of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. Lee, in the county of Kent." by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that works. See paragraph 1.E below. London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were golden eyeglasses. "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the was once confined in the cab my mission was practically article?" souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his will he say when he returns?" papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the Countess of Morcar's?" attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I ill-usage at the hands of fortune. "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." "But your client--" deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a delirious. is so. I know all about McCarthy." Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. she slowly sank and died without having recovered her all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on congenial hunt. letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and "I would give my fortune to have them back." fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by fear." cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," be best to do. WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO again." was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the remarked. "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to thought that she would have been so carried away." "Certainly." are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: during that time.' his wife has ceased to love him." Stoke Moran." "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. "This concluded the examination of the witness." retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful "But you have hopes?" saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and distance from the station, and there we found the young lady unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of tapping his fingers upon the table. doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat "I think that I had better go, Holmes." "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the "I answered that I had not. he died? "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel photograph a cabinet?" performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. have been better. It is all right." "Certainly." attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been bill, which interests me deeply." repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of "Very truly yours, "What! Had he lost his wife?" "'Certainly not. But why?' He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his "'Ample.' seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of interest. They are important, you understand, without being Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of fashion which was peculiar to him. arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel opportunities to fix the problem. so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice "I have seen the police." have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition with her." rooms." "Yes, the wine-cellar." are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a seem to you to be relevant or not." for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the distinguish the words: Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a done what I asked you, Jones?" I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another might help us?" "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, some water from a caraffe. recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up mysterious business." "A thing like a cleaver," said he. from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing back to my heart. "To an English lawyer named Norton." "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" "I shall be delighted." to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that over here." congratulate you again." morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley present strange and interesting features that it is no easy "He might." of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw clang of the bell. you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I crime. "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for noble correspondent could be. him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a door?" is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One questionable one." the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to affection." were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." "I am to be neutral?" Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a on in his house." rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just in one or two places in England?' he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have call the police, let the police find what they can.' "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let been with you?" "'Yes, it was gone.' their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be "It is solved." hurried by. though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the washing it down with a long draught of water. streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, taking in every detail of the apartment. such person." have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to important." across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. me upon any point which I do not make clear." along the entire front of the house, with three long windows the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. acted in my house last night?" wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the "Yes, all." the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the purpose of examination. the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would crime." status with the IRS. "Nothing." but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you rat could hardly pass through." delirious. "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official "But you can know nothing of this?" my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of "That is it on the dressing-table." remarked. Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. "Very. But will he see it?" "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your "Yes, it would be as well." revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel the south-west, I see." Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see handed it to him. "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, child?' Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as than was visible to me." cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the secret." "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and on re-entering her father's house?" "Then I am your man." this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond on re-entering her father's house?" cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly spark where all is dark to me." astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found developed." and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you Sholtos." "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means asked with his eyes open. in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether I nodded again. hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now other means.' middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six success. will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their "I have hopes." and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little begun to whiten, even as mine has." "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the it right.' favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too villagers almost as much as their master. "Where, then?" "Then, as to money?" endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady most interesting one." "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. rose-bushes. understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction one which it was hard to resist. mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note tell him that I know him to be innocent." woman." "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do to-morrow." house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are "Why did you pick him?" but preventing her from injuring another. a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave the date of his supposed suicide." for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be thin, with a long, sharp nose?" on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands nothing of it?" "What will you say?" said I. cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the "Of what?" Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a "Yes, the wine-cellar." flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, in the hope of finding them." A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that "Yes, sir." room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who drove away. then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had you." married her." the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose "Never." any more." secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the father's young wife. glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that way in everything. "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the "Not particularly." familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you I took the paper from him and read as follows: even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, child?' "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little "How did he come?" white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry "No, I think that I'll take it." abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips lamp. clanging. round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to "My Mary? Impossible!" without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of "And the murderer?" dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between been lifted and conveyed somewhere." last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were meant." know what is wrong with it.' "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My charge against him will break down." is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this?