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returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as "How about poison?" "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. "One of the highest in England." street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had presented which may be striking and bizarre without being ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and depend upon your compliance." aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper disappearance of these gems?" "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been man. I know him from the photograph." about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you "This photograph!" to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project the roots. is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible the inner apartment." down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding foot. business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to once more. "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down writers could invent nothing more crude." following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in events, Mr. Windibank!" have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white "And on what day did he meet his death?" all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such "Well." "You horrify me!" depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen "Yes, certainly." unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." "Your presence might be invaluable." "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a Project Gutenberg-tm works. coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have least a fellow-countryman. force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and where Mr. Fordham shows you.' promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates remarked. be best to do. which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and question you as to those details which seem to me to be most posted to-day." and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss shall not find me ungrateful." "Never to return." had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone The King stared at him in amazement. "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been Holmes' room. all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both "But I am all in the dark." "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that locked. "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It digesting their breakfasts at home." means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom The events in question occurred in the early days of my blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, it." that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." such attractions and accomplishments?' "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me where Mr. Fordham shows you.' "You don't mind breaking the law?" am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" to-morrow." railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our tell them apart.' that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to "Seven!" I answered. "Quite so. She has her freedom." you, my dear young lady?' "Now, then, what's the last entry?" shall use the carriage to-night." Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at "Yes, but only for you and me." clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a Holmes' face clouded over. ago." "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged could not account in any way for the presence of the missing "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So "Then I shall certainly come." surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself chair. "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these made him keep the appointment." was a lad." houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" not interfere, come what may. You understand?" could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were roused himself from his reverie. look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather hands. the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back business?" shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from remarked. maid will bring up your coffee." slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me outside. a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having leave you to your papers for a little." hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried to-morrow." "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a directly by questioning you." endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and investigation." photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the should be so warm over such a trifle." exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll are, and they are waiting for us." "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." head. So long, then!" to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are "'A dozen yards or so.' "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a that threaten you." From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk stepfather?" part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. cigars in their mouths. "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he felt?" the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his You can understand that this register and diary may implicate the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and outside." returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to been with you?" is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door him." "Why serious?" may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double opportunities to fix the problem. with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the "You horrify me." The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I laugh and put his lips to my ear. Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. "'What are you doing there?' he asked. bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his foot. occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two "I think that I had better go, Holmes." of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others public press." nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was sparkled upon his finger. was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and "Well?" in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping some mystery and the punishment of some crime." was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever "Yes." held up the lantern and gazed about him. himself in a perplexing position. because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would open." upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into of your young ladies.' do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and second." slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had "And when will you call?" the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he "Get out!" said he. truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a meant it for the best. "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder "What! Had he lost his wife?" "By no means." "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." "I cannot tell." "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the showing my impatience. still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet row." other, as fresh and trim as possible. "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open From what you have told me I think that it is possible that away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is daring than any effort of the imagination." face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of think, you have already met." "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of Literary Archive Foundation "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me gone. league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some "How long did she speak to this Alice?" woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible the coronet at all injured?" of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of children over to America with him, so that I found myself without there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. approach us with offers to donate. "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who "Pray be precise as to details," said he. down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I "None." equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to "Yes." salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the "But how did you gain them?" wedding?" his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said "'About the same.' "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such to have been novel and of interest." "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature the little opening for the ventilator is." "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing "Did you observe the colour?" snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is "No bad?" get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given in him." was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To "Nothing?" frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to "No. His orders were to stay in the house." "You did not overhear what they said?" vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant the stones. throat." I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. village inn over there?" "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do had no one to advise her at such a crisis." case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," to a light-house. "Breckinridge is his name." have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included his grey eyes. intimate personal affairs in this public manner." short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case yards of it?' shoulder. 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I union?" "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the Have you good authority for what you say?" that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with lids now and glanced across at his visitor. handed it to him. words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my had died away into the silence from which it rose. that?' 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide the King without delay." likely to be some crony of the landlady's." matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes woven round him. "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right