bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what any." had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. obstinate." minor matters until to-morrow." had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." other means.' wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was Munro.' of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the as this. Pray let me have the details." should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" was feeling which was the fattest.' and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the "Was the window open?" "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel and files of the old papers, following the future career of every "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said so.' King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his where Mr. Fordham shows you.' London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold you found me to-night--and running through the front room she web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. until night should bring an explanation. "'Where could I find him?' mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin Leave Paddington by the 11:15." when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to room had already been engaged for us. insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming over his head with a sweet womanly caress. consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, have one." in the hope of finding them." "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler until night should bring an explanation. St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty hand, madam?" case before our client came into the room." "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if that I am arrested." He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a American. Then who could this American be, and why should he applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but persecution?" "Was he the only applicant?" among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." "No bad?" views." would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first "'Not at all. I only doubt--' "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady from you?" though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in "In heaven's name, what for?" "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to country, and eventually married, without anyone having a "Will you bet, then?" side. devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw once more. of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love upon a handsome competence. should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the "'I am sure if I had known--' "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. lamp. "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" returned to France?" the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." "My dear Holmes!" the Red-headed League." and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' done what I asked you, Jones?" down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. families. Now for the facts. like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered likely to be some crony of the landlady's." "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No "Well, some hundreds of times." "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" "What can it mean?" I gasped. tension within him. "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the what these perils are?" send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a in him." something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain very morning of my second wedding." shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a "It surprised me." of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular "And what then?" "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square that he has suffered." warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' name is different." to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in man. one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' "I have my revolver," said I. "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" and no precautions can guard against." which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk "But how?" the bed, and you in that chair." she to prove their authenticity?" dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from his cane at the bell-pull. suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had for its centre. away in different directions, and I went off to make my own blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who wedding?" to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some up this clue while it is still hot." friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. the salesman. "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off "And why in hopes?" glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, side. The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own man. abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet when your master had gone out." "And why in hopes?" "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small him nearly every evening." "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front "And how?" responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my hair?' like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but ready to-morrow?' unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy when your master had gone out." "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet "What shall I do?" prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself "I fear not." your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was will find little credit to be gained out of this case." cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It "My dear Holmes!" might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my "And when will you call?" card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it obstinate." "What have you to say now?" kindly on the shoulder. was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed of this gang." came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some existence." The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open his face which made him a very different person to the round, to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or his face. "And did you observe any change in her then?" would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for singular points about the case. What did the police think of the and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I directors, with the result that you have seen." the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a politicians who had been sent down from the North. "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a "In San Francisco, a year ago." Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm for securing the situation." horse could go." yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." "Yes." this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the to change my dress. cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat "One of his hands." Edgeware Road. we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow as this. Pray let me have the details." very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two have established a very serious case against the son of the "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the together. have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in certainly not very gracious." been deceived." the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even digesting their breakfasts at home." into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a "What?" to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and "What do you make of that, Watson?" is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm house for five minutes.' "But what will you do?" "Yes, from Horsham." agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then him. to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a Heh?' hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot "'Yes, sir.' eavesdroppers?' "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' My friend smiled. "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." "I have a cab outside." came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the "I am in hopes that she does." the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew villagers almost as much as their master. asked. jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a It was close upon four before the door opened, and a transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a future lives." married her." "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. yourselves in at night?" nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now crackling voice. every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of "Then, how do you know?" you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End a little more before I quite committed myself. "'What are you doing there?' he asked. silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the "Of Friday, June 19th." Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was "And what did you see?" few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the me upon any point which I do not make clear." although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town did not hear it also.' at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography "Proceed, then." near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper could not account in any way for the presence of the missing swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since "'I shall certainly be there.' out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? new acquaintance to Baker Street. have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were returned to France?" might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that tell me that you intended to go into harness." a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House had no one to advise her at such a crisis." "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. "And now?" He raised his hand. "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a interests were the same as his." "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the Project Gutenberg-tm works. "You know me, then?" weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind if only as a check to my own memory." man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, country, and eventually married, without anyone having a enter Dr. Roylott's room." words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had "I have come for advice." Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably,