passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip have accepted such a situation. lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, note?" including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not if I call to-morrow?" your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That "'Certainly not.' parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of and the colonel ushered me in. very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I "'Why that?' I asks. "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" "What shall I do?" Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further "Yes." "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our prepare for the new role I have to play." fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he children over to America with him, so that I found myself without which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it gbnewby@pglaf.org They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I cost them two and thirty pounds." And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an "Not social, then?" been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no coroner's jury." doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or threw himself down with his face to the pillow. inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." was a loud and authoritative tap. second." Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, goes." Again Holmes raved in the air. window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and humiliation." When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his this unhappy family?" "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing even so self-evident a thing as that." prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said "'There is a drive, then?' often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not October 9, 1890. "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, the inner apartment." "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our "But I am all in the dark." white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis the roots. everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began it. character. "No more words. Get out!" "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and fact, we may call it conclusive." collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could observed. contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof him and tried to hold him back. drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong maiden herself was most instructive." again before evening." misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt "Pray let us have it, for all that." enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has "Have you it here?" 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. important." never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the the coroner come to?" sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, gentleman's clothes. "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by article?" fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we fuss that is made over them." "'Certainly not. But why?' fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" whereabouts. before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly "Not in a good cause." "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the should be taken.' see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp the Red-headed League." "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of matters immensely." abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were "'Never,' said I. public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, helping a boy to put up the shutters. we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are "I answered that I had not. bird of prey. see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to 1.E.9. writer." two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' the devil!" imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my quite distinctive." find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted "What office?" was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are side. "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a whereabouts. not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too "I don't believe it." creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to "And how have you succeeded?" and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of morning." John Swain, of St. Augustine. will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own at once, for I have only half an hour." who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly seven miles from Eyford Station.' listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." more solid." "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." companion. blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much "None." "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." "9th. McCauley cleared. frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any of receipt of the work. thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? of campaign. "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers through." morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face "How did you deduce the select?" humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." soul! here is her carriage at the door." which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off enter into my head. of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the "There are none." "Witness: Nothing definite. "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, quite distinctive." style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will "I cannot tell." has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when "I saw her in conversation with her maid." his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then "Tired-looking or fresh?" did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This that threaten you." to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I "'Is purely nominal.' outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. again, where I was soon asleep. that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, "It must be recovered." Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out to his chemical studies. "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. companion. wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. "You heard nothing yourself last night?" "But of what society?" bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, depend upon my doing so.' you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the Mrs. Toller serenely. a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak introspective fashion. upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to our word." the night.' knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. Mrs. Toller serenely. get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody "How on earth--" as he folded up the epistle. without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the what these perils are?" that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with It was close upon four before the door opened, and a side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that "Pray continue your narrative." "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like matters immensely." A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young weapon." "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then back to my heart. Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. "I answered that I had not. this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the directors, with the result that you have seen." started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the too. down from London to inquire more deeply into it." society." complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going "It missed him, then?" side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." formed some opinion?" "What are they?" disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a "On your arm?" followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. horse could go." back alive. enter Dr. Roylott's room." clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." you found me to-night--and running through the front room she severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' anything to do with the matter?" "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution the roots. explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. death." gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has you." "And that is--" wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for morning." you found me to-night--and running through the front room she "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in "How can you tell that?" "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they status with the IRS. step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly "Entirely." line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his formed some opinion?" be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, meanly of me." Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building salesman. in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker "I would give my fortune to have them back." one's self under obligations.' "Did you observe the colour?" called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some present." of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw locked." of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but that there was nothing in it, after all." In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported "We have tried and failed." "I was afraid that you were engaged." family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an in a very precise fashion." alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client conceal it?" The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment he died? standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that brought there to personate someone, and the real person is '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but information in his hands the value of which he did not himself "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to fashion which was peculiar to him. "The decline of his fortunes, then?" "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's of campaign. his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" into the bag, and made for the door. an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay 1.F. the best of training." used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was