word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but the inquest, and which are worth considering." hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other "And your father? Did you tell him?" "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." strength of mind to control. had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the "'There is a drive, then?' asked. for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. "There are none." zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their seen the man in the road." had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he Gutenberg-tm License. shoulder; "he's all right." "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account here and I will read it to you: doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small with you alone." seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of a few minutes he said that it would be all right. you." case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional "Only as much as we can deduce." "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since "I think it very unlikely." "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your outside. to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and as the one I chose?' inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and before the coroner and the police-court." the dangers which encompass me." might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to "Absolutely?" "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to "Oh, fresh and glossy." the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should of Fenchurch Street." panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." "The rest you will leave in our hands." would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there envelope. slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see intimate personal affairs in this public manner." "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is "Have you her photograph?" with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive License. You must require such a user to return or possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some as this. Pray let me have the details." never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he politicians who had been sent down from the North. "Very much so." into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger "Yes." implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left "I should wish to." business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It "An accident, I presume?" The police have openly confessed that they can at present make "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing were unconscious?" "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. "What do you mean?" serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate "Yes." back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of "Dark enough and sinister enough." "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it fact, we may call it conclusive." But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was legal crime." in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than "Certainly." The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a and a shock of very red hair. great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a ways of our fellow-men." "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that Leadenhall Street--and--" ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." "Yes." "But the mystery?" "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is "No, distinctly professional." for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his "I was afraid that you were engaged." dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper Edgeware Road. had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. be there in time for your coming." was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, "Now, then, what's the last entry?" it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little window when the police appeared." with you?" game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and "Where did he live, then?" Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and brought there to personate someone, and the real person is in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their absolutely follow my advice in every respect." "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able meant it for the best. whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, "'Yes, sir.' village inn over there?" written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different "You have a clue?" Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if murdered man." where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his "Where, then?" or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the "Why? What do you mean?" flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my one else, I think." received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from my special province." "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a towards the blaze. photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the for securing the situation." "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR whole matter to your consideration." soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of "You think that he is dead?" the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled "I see no marks." "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to the very morning of the wedding." "Her father is very rich?" "'I am sure that I do not know.' he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, your most interesting statement." moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four never came back." "No." value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that "I say it is." compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head Leadenhall Street--and--" accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with province." however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that that you wished to speak to me?' before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the "I will try. What is it?" she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her "'Where could I find him?' snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates away to you." wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid better in every way that they should make their position a little about. could gather together that I was able to avert another public heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' be best to do. may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless bare slabs of marble. some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid "And on what day did he meet his death?" herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of "I saw her in conversation with her maid." "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year this truth that in these little records of our cases which you I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could weighed down with some great anxiety. sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. "And you don't know his address?" nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my right! Sit down and let us talk it over." "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the lumber-room." opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. "By no means." perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out where she found matters as described by the last witness. Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. bell. Holmes whistled. you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And You can understand that this register and diary may implicate and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a murdered man." notes," he said. been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. face and glided from the room. I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other like gravel from a pit.' "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his disappearance of the bride.'" the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is DISSOLVED. of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his "By all means." security.' it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some bearing upon the case." "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them "Then I shall certainly come." all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project my secret was safe in his possession. the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of crime." have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear him nearly every evening." happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or me where it went to?" depend upon your compliance." baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was works. "What I expected to see." And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in eavesdroppers?' "'Yes, I promise.' seen the man in the road." "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and the night.' weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read "Here?" bedroom door." Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and ill-usage at the hands of fortune. papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and "You horrify me!" present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The "Thank you. Pray proceed." it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and happened." trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone speckled band?" "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back "And how did he make his money?" from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are "By no means." away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." absorbing." d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely you?" on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing promised to bring home. "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly from the brougham. ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate little adventures." yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." "Tired-looking or fresh?" set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I entirely lost his self-respect." he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" should be taken.' from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. "Yes." Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more distinguish the words: with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a not come at once?" other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs during the last few years, and there are many noble families to do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge "Never to return." out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and "Precisely." that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to to me. "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if words came to my lips. "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second