broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of better in every way that they should make their position a little have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK threw himself down with his face to the pillow. a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work "Has he come with you to-night?" "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal anything to do with the matter?" upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her standing smiling on the door-step. "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill "Have you it here?" the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic the south-west, I see." lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it "Of what?" "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went "One?" woven round him. "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am "I will try. What is it?" inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell through." "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" good-night and bustled off upon her way. that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' "But how?" desk. half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic "What I expected to see." Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and there when the Rucastles went away." red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" closing the door. You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" was keenly on my guard against him. charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer "Entirely." and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event "The vanishing of the lady." livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, thin, with a long, sharp nose?" of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I shoulder. of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a rat could hardly pass through." force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may "What then?" "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." swore that no one else had been in the front room during the All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair "I would pay ten." "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the opened a pocket-book and took out a note. Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a "And why?" It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as "Because he was handy and would come cheap." dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez "'Yes, sir.' window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of dead, shall be safe with us." on re-entering her father's house?" "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of "'Yes, sir.' with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in you." the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." as the one I chose?' running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. "Yes, sir." lamp. from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and "But of what society?" and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most dead, shall be safe with us." "So I am. Very much so." had no one to advise her at such a crisis." "Nothing." sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked of note-paper. It read in this fashion: "Quite so." dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was third from London." have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was the loss of it. to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not his fortune, and I went back to pa. your co-operation." "In the cells." "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this "Yes." flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is "Yes, they were peculiar boots." once more. "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my views." which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over "Can I be of assistance?" The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that "May I see it?" have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been "Yes, they were peculiar boots." quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite which our visitor detailed to us. had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you what these perils are?" profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' quick march!" Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would answer." a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the one's self under obligations.' IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an client, rising. "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, during the last few years, and there are many noble families to branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in "That is possible." weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the examination of the premises, but without finding anything which the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he "But to whom?" astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" infinite languor in his face. her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the the dangers which encompass me." Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project only touch the interest." desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in green of the new foliage. he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The be.' threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a charged with?" scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." is so. I know all about McCarthy." yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE individual and becomes the badge of a society." several quiet little villages up there." "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable "Your French gold?" seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from place, I think that there is good ground to think that the violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return in your London, you will know that the office of the company is the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him him to be an active member of the medical profession." "My dear Holmes!" fuss that is made over them." the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by fled together." this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than read over the extraordinary announcement. money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and brought there to personate someone, and the real person is entirely devoid of interest." fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with "But you have hopes?" purpose equally well?" side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love shoulder. "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. the station." been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful letters?" looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next something of him before." "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate telegram would bring me down to your help." of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." "'What do you call purely nominal?' was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties dramatic, in fact." as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible "I will not look." whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his "And you can do nothing until then?" "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed against a man in the prime of life?" opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." have an American origin." eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of "Then I shall certainly come." you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The I think that I could be of assistance to you." therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try "I came to find a friend." what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of felt the room to be a little close.' of Fenchurch Street." would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." disappearance of these gems?" of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing writing, and yet I know it well." The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" "When did it break out?" been." enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he brain must have something in it." of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap your room." all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an and put his glass in his pocket. particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch to you." back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where excitement. quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of the iron safe, which he closed upon it. the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes "'What are you doing there?' he asked. the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I money should be paid at once.' Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his "You will not go there first?" delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had to talk it over. endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting the iron safe, which he closed upon it. it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross said I. you in your example." "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. "It was a confession," I ejaculated. and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a generous with you in money matters.' "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had "Yes." no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all was a perfect sample of the class. again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the were new raised from a basin. End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works "I don't believe it." metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. you found me to-night--and running through the front room she off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped me where it went to?" clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made speckled band?" "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary been shamefully used." WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric I shall continue with my miserable story. offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most "What, then, did Peterson do?" When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned "Whose house is it?" trifles." consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to "She showed me, as I told you she would." of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all at once, for I have only half an hour." "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had his cane at the bell-pull. posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied a very grave face. leave you to your papers for a little." "Not in a good cause." man. I know him from the photograph." sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I which it had come upon my father." "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." "How did that help you?" I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it "I see many objections to any such theory." "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I joking. The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about