there!' "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced "But how?" chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very "I would pay ten." Lee, in the county of Kent." daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the and prosperity to your house. Good-night." making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual to change my dress. "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home "What is it?" "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to "Absolutely?" "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I bell. Holmes whistled. of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and and the whole place is in a blaze." husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see this remarkable episode. immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man you found me to-night--and running through the front room she Mary, has deserted me." discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with infinite languor in his face. "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw "Well, some hundreds of times." attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the "In which, sir?" Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project strode off upon his way. "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell nice household for a young lady." plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which noise which awoke you from your sleep?" "On Monday." "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. already been minutely examined." he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously and the church but not where the lady lived." ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary night.' said he. unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a vault. tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" "Not particularly." "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his writing, and yet I know it well." but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have unclasping of his long thin hands. I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he this as likely?" on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." voice, changing her seat as requested. "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. it." One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable child?' newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your him. been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the thirty. professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" was already answered. "I shall be delighted." wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have look upon these things in a different way." "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a following enigmatical notices: "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. "Will you bet, then?" fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove "By all means." will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy "'What then?' I asked. the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." "But how?" mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the already been minutely examined." and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some closing the door. "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive "Married! When?" "It is solved." "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate child?' reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to sofa. This way, please!" events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in American. Then who could this American be, and why should he 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered "Well, but China?" "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take "How long did she speak to this Alice?" "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a morning." have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded "You think that he is dead?" vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I views." him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? where we are going." the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained becomes even more simple." train from Paddington which would bring you there at about telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable "Was there a secret marriage?" each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong should be taken.' it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. take the flies, but not before." The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your appointment with me for six o'clock?" house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you salesman. therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do dates and names. As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe "'Certainly not.' dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining "Did he not advertise?" took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been all?" directly by questioning you." "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather will take you up to see the machine.' said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same "Will you bet, then?" most interesting one." loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both everything which you would wish to know." entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I good for you to do.' have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other upon a handsome competence. urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding tell him that I know him to be innocent." "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this the coronet at all injured?" charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." indiscretion." The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked "Have you her photograph?" I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, bird of prey. "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of "This concluded the examination of the witness." pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. indeed which he could not unravel. company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who Clair, of Lee." "I cannot tell." LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with "What! a murderous attack?" daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking "And I." finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it said he. had a long day." happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. formed some opinion?" was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made "What?" so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from "The King of Scandinavia." always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take read over the extraordinary announcement. Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no "But how could you guess what the motive was?" "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a "But you were on a friendly footing?" an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my which should have the effect of calling the attention of the weary and pale-looking. jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do recall any case within my experience which looked at the first "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. "How did you trace it, then?" "It's nothing of the kind." "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three "I don't say that. Perhaps." rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got "And did you observe any change in her then?" Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has "None." the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." call the police, let the police find what they can.' together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my ready to-morrow?' "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly "I fear not." silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of bonnet, and went out." at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid it? Did I buy the geese off you?" phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project four million human beings all jostling each other within the security.' "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have least a most suspicious remark." "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I rooms." "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among sound at heart." second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in "But his left-handedness." placed his cuttings. people in all walks of life. and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple results." "I guessed as much." "'Entirely.' I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined acquaintance?" have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and chance." He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the "Do you receive much company?" he asked. already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" had died away into the silence from which it rose. touch that coronet?' a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. Gutenberg-tm License. horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have when you have done it." his eyes and forehead. remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think McCarthy." remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting "Who was the criminal, then?" he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand "One?" suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged "And leave your case unfinished?" the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of "'I have already given you my word.' used to be." if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." chill to my heart. the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in flock.' nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six "We must have a cab." "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural the coroner come to?" read it out to me." morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the three of the beryls in it, was missing. whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." in this note: