swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the amused." 1.F. years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in "Eh? What was that?" of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. quite distinctive." first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked breakfast and whispered something to her husband. next day. we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." trying to your nerves." later, upon the night of May 2nd." "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on enter into my head. it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. relief. along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that throat." to have that photograph." there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two rooms." his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house written. have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local as noiselessly as she had come. expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. "Where, indeed?" Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: cigar and let me expound." undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, room had already been engaged for us. "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could "'Most admirably.' test if we have an answer to our advertisement." sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My the armchair which I pushed forward for him. and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 against a man in the prime of life?" in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true "You are hungry," I remarked. shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by "What! You do not mean bodies?" "I fear not." "Dark enough and sinister enough." "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. colonel looking down at me. "I cannot say that I have." Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which "'I have already given you my word.' washing it down with a long draught of water. derbies." man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and not as remarkable as your advertisement." of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the and the colonel ushered me in. and that he would see to anything that turned up. casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was examine." can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which not, dad?" she asked. bore every mark of being an average commonplace British made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out "Have you her photograph?" him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the "No." 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss fluttered off among the others. midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his done what I asked you, Jones?" "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual Serpentine Avenue. as noiselessly as she had come. the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with II. Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and "One?" she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." said Mr. Holder. "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. "Then how many are there?" Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The "In the cells." you understand?" unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. round and wave him away like that.' "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a dramatic, in fact." destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium ways including including checks, online payments and credit card "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the "It looks newer than the other things?" instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss his face which made him a very different person to the round, have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, "Where, then?" "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to business in the City. She little knew what. him and tried to hold him back. furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, child?' a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a like that before?" later, upon the night of May 2nd." ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking and it need not interfere very much with one's other "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his cup of tea. "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as "Not in a good cause." kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a case before our client came into the room." seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was you." he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. passage and a tap at the door. reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the which it had come upon my father." vanished into the darkness. has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the morning." the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as go from here to the Strand." I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not "He said that you could solve anything." following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning "Ha! you find it so?" weapon." "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of useful material for showing traces. The double line a little and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty good for you to do.' both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a "By no means." One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle "How are you getting on?" through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I of." "Yes." took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending "At what time?" "She walked into the breakfast-room." the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless results." As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found all?" upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with said I. nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have a monotonous occupation." in one or two places in England?' greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this off." was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be said he at last. the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our "When did it break out?" "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." "An enemy?" him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. "Not I." even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what Mrs. Toller serenely. "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take to have that photograph." "Was he the only applicant?" guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without and prosperity to your house. Good-night." "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged round and wave him away like that.' I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." tied." probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had I have it here in my museum." Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he tightly behind him. of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of "I promise," said Holmes. I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but "'Quite sure, dad.' in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just "What are they?" through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some I approached. hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a habit of advancing money.' would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has "Did he not advertise?" in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your "Not particularly." spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." "So I heard. You have him here?" well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no it? Did I buy the geese off you?" of the vacancies.' "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is waste of energy." which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he handed it to him. matter over." keep the flames under. point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from should be taken.' central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that I leave." trying to your nerves." "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so "'There is a drive, then?' "But you would not advise me to refuse?" "I see many objections to any such theory." of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may with you alone." against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master when you have done it." large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might "But his lameness?" the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William "Has he come with you to-night?" unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my "Never." inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock "On the contrary, this is the right side." "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country What do you deduce from it?" "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of shaken than I had ever seen him. before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his are windows in it, of course?" to-night?" I asked. "She told me to ask you." you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would to where he stood hid behind the curtain. set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, politicians who had been sent down from the North. which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That the coronet at all injured?" 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's yards of it?' two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we window when the police appeared." quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads has little to do with my story." places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid some water from a caraffe. but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I which we had just quitted. cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," "Nearly eleven." which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. populous neighbourhood." nothing of it?" hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the the bottom.' like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his again before evening." savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch the room while you explain this matter?" cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital breakfast." "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to place no limit on the sum I may draw." "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they cause to be." delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a "No legal papers or certificates?" untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" your billet.' screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after sofa. This way, please!" "Precisely so. But how--" aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident carriage. It was a chestnut." traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at conclusions. "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of "And what did you learn from him?" unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The very peculiar words of the dying woman?" where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway gigantic client. "And your father? Did you tell him?" "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently "She will not sell." extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, this unhappy family?" lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance "But to whom?" Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would had this final quarrel? call the police, let the police find what they can.' her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately past. question," said Holmes, smiling. aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is Holmes' face clouded over. flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. answered with a sidelong glance. we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and "She showed me, as I told you she would." course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty "What steps will you take?" I asked.