said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. you?" here." "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he *** START: FULL LICENSE *** The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I shall not find me ungrateful." never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the three fields round his house, and there he would take his suggested at once that there must be a communication between the he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. time." "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew even so self-evident a thing as that." key turn in the lock." us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most "One?" felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his on re-entering her father's house?" Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to him to go away.' "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." south, for the country is more deserted there." "He disappeared so suddenly." client, rising. go from here to the Strand." round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or noble correspondent could be. lost nothing by them." heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the "He said that you could solve anything." "An enemy?" "He said too much." "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. already referred to. zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence other, as fresh and trim as possible. ran thus: "And how did you find out?" "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere "The Cedars?" "Did he not advertise?" observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can over part of the map. "What do you read?" him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I felt?" "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the such attractions and accomplishments?' besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was hair?' by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots "You are all wrong." prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His "What of the rat, then?" could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. What do you deduce from it?" rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own "One of the highest in England." "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. go--none." platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed "I assure you that I am in your hands." the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just seven miles from Eyford Station.' said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her relief. "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very beg that you will break it off." telegram would bring me down to your help." would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." "The King of Scandinavia." "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. "Not in the least." returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction "'Most admirably.' conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter or other trace. But how on earth--" Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no or other trace. But how on earth--" right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in character. "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb "'You cannot say what it was?' "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor wedding?" yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. "My dear Holmes!" serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should "But she will refuse." the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying must compliment you." hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof "'It is locked up,' I answered. said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the "You are all wrong." warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William I approached. woven round him. grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a not personally threatened." in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out "I have solved it." have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, it? Did I buy the geese off you?" "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by once more for Briony Lodge. A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, hour." "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a me. "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned "How on earth--" address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left desk. be sorry for having acted so harshly." "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made "Certainly." the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very ways including including checks, online payments and credit card thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new http://gutenberg.net/license). "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the colour had been driven from his face. foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for and prosperity to your house. Good-night." "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the that the gas is not laid on in his house?" "How did you trace it, then?" Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair Gutenberg-tm License. don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes bill, which interests me deeply." "'As governess?' black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon which our visitor detailed to us. central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm woven round him. eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, "One of his hands." whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that fish-monger and a tide-waiter." "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was "Who by?" had picked up in the wood. with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and yet." I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story "Yes." and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked "You heard nothing yourself last night?" "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? this poor creature." is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations me where it went to?" more terrible than the truth. along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of the window, rose as we entered. wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the "And from a noble client?" really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to the loss of it. "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the had a long day." rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had him and tried to hold him back. "Then I shall certainly come." "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that strength in the others." of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no round with crates and massive boxes. "'Very good.' through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have "The vanishing of the lady." suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest there!' colour had been driven from his face. Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to client, rising. "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows chambers. attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well to have been novel and of interest." "I fear not." and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for matters immensely." lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little crowd. McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is "Well, some hundreds of times." There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom article?" knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's as he remarks, very much against the son." and a shock of very red hair. following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my "Then I shall certainly come." "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The "Then, as to money?" fattened it expressly for you.' are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg "He might." would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere Holmes." "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. "What?" "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out was keenly on my guard against him. presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind your room." the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from there has been an enclosure here!" stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor "Certainly." "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a "When did she vanish, then?" very morning of my second wedding." cigar and let me expound." suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you "The Coroner: What do you mean? hurried away. remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was noble correspondent could be. "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just Doctor, of the paper and the date." up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" "My photograph." "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly "No. His orders were to stay in the house." She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, bird of prey. "What of the rat, then?" remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. deduce something from that?" my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, "You are all wrong." the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to "Well?" sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At other lovers by making love himself." wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to in this note: prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the "No, I am descending." were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass directors have had misgivings upon the subject." "How on earth--" and looked back. read it out to me." there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there awaited us upon the table. side. "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I "How did that help you?" "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't "Pray do so." own family. things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he that I may have something better before very many minutes are Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. through." stood on the top of it. "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his been able to understand it, in a very few words. you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything the child." long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their writers could invent nothing more crude." boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he His name is Francis Prosper." at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked "What will you do, then?" We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into enough to aid us in our search." having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so such person." "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid and glanced through. suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet said he. returned to France?" was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could "'I am sure that I do not know.' derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and before the coroner and the police-court." "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself it with his own hands." beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a simple cases which are so extremely difficult." entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a