"So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to "You don't mind breaking the law?" gbnewby@pglaf.org "It is solved." array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and locked. belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. bell. Holmes whistled. "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite "Yes." settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can one of them." "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see out." "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is "And how have you succeeded?" the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about shall use the carriage to-night." confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can "I am in hopes that she does." few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the "'No, I know no one in these parts.' he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause your bag." "It is half-past ten now." rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up "No." was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited head. So long, then!" "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in "No legal papers or certificates?" jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I one or two very singular points about this room. For example, "The murder was done with it." already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It there were so many in the whole country as were brought together no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had "Then you may be so with me." assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making "Yes." himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell look dissatisfied." Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If 11:15.' was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into she used." rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" "Bought." go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone the child." and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police interest. They are important, you understand, without being "No legal papers or certificates?" "None." "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. pound a week." "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. with some details as to your case." so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to bed dies. Does not that strike you?" impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of was not a bird to be seen there. "But his lameness?" "Where did you address your letters, then?" where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me dear old homesteads?" notes," he said. "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of placed his cuttings. and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt train.' half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the impression behind it as though a window had gently closed home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, "But you have hopes?" as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I lamp. business." "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other "None." man. voice, changing her seat as requested. It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every seen the man in the road." permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up "None." thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature country, and eventually married, without anyone having a "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. touch that coronet?' ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress business came to an end." populous neighbourhood." me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to imbecility!" he cried. "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would examine." Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my to-night's adventure." seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. interested in these little problems, and since you are good gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the "Witness: Nothing definite. A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. "Certainly." to surprise her." as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." "Yes." bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged fait accompli?" line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. "You saw the ventilator, too?" "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he voice. august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to "He might." 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture success. questionable one." "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to power." Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet to-night?' "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough companion quietly. "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." chill to my heart. pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she "'I have heard so.' leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" of his shoulders. "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." lamp in his hand. inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important whether it answered to the description of any of their a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was we went to search for him, face downward in a little are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I retorted upon me, and I on you." "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some written. trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand the iron safe, which he closed upon it. crime." some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only detained." "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." "VIOLET HUNTER." chamber." free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously she might be summoned. I held the little printed slip to the light. during the last few years, and there are many noble families to off." particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I events than those which have happened in my own family." "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to "Pray let us have it, for all that." man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the second." have an American origin." sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate this as likely?" continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a be best to do. her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet you?' "I fear not." there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not me upon any point which I do not make clear." the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. "Yes, I have one waiting." frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." "His face fell immediately. "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, had no one to advise her at such a crisis." "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at there was no need for father to know." grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I to Leatherhead. "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the murdered man." "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the charge against him will break down." "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm "She walked into the breakfast-room." I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. pressing in one house as in another. "Nothing." paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the "What of the rat, then?" among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about that he will be back before evening." "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor spare." "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the a good hundred miles off by now." always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has persecution?" "I am armed." Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you think you a quite exceptional woman." returned to France?" the inquest, and which are worth considering." directors, with the result that you have seen." music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of "It is very clear." Project Gutenberg-tm works. conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. "Nearly eleven." "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old sit on the left-hand side of the driver." "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he to-night." Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very to go into your room and bar your shutters?" them?" that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass with her." James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account "Seven!" I answered. shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough "How do you know, then?" abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This of the way of danger. away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a this as likely?" About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. people in all walks of life. it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting "Yes." a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace triumphant cloud from his cigarette. "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she him. stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the breakfast and whispered something to her husband. cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I Leave Paddington by the 11:15." ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some "That is unusual in a young girl." "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about quickly through a disagreeable task. on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of "I will try. What is it?" the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the chambers. "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be to tell." already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed cheerful." do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt in darkness. "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the the address that was given us in the advertisement. ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. "It looks newer than the other things?" "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more your only hope of safety." The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we "Yes, but only for you and me." "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." the side-table." "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom o'clock is it?" gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one that you wished to speak to me?' thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To point in the dark hollow of his hand. a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, "How do you know, then?" The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that down. Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity