"I shall most certainly do so." "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. jewels which you have stolen?' seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I "That is it on the dressing-table." American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. of the one which your family is now devouring." wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had use an arc-and-compass breastpin." doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." "Yes." when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party I shall continue with my miserable story. "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." certainly not very gracious." "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his my special province." if she died from some sudden fright." He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." any little problem which you may submit to me." Edgeware Road. the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who against a man in the prime of life?" "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is away into the river." "'Is 4 pounds a week.' But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the "No sign of it?" there has been an enclosure here!" it? Did I buy the geese off you?" the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of amused." spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, "I warn you that they are very incomplete." send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole of the way of danger. 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. For additional contact information: snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed "Just look it up, then." determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural where Mr. Fordham shows you.' saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in amused." be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he sit on the left-hand side of the driver." was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' arrangements." follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that plantation.' the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the tapping his fingers upon the table. play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite impression behind it as though a window had gently closed very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. "I am following you closely," I answered. France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was "And how?" "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. "And it is--" "Did he not advertise?" "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." himself to hunt down. reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an "You know me, then?" before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that client, rising. the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' "No good news?" status with the IRS. Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I has little to do with my story." insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to "I see many objections to any such theory." horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before at my own good fortune. sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where his face. "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he nothing of it?" would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend "They are typewritten," I remarked. Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a "In which, sir?" own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch may have an influence upon European history." problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this "Not in the least." them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I seen the man in the road." "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." "But what is it you wish?" "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is a monotonous occupation." week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery but preventing her from injuring another. laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting married her." alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had populous neighbourhood." Literary Archive Foundation hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, "In answer to an advertisement." a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, present." you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he way in everything. across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where and the colonel ushered me in. professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would mysterious business." suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might "Precisely so. But how--" and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing woman who has had her own way to make in the world. on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more "You will not go there first?" away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. of campaign. and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the "I promise," said Holmes. to his chemical studies. down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the Mary, has deserted me." Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" woman who has had her own way to make in the world. "You are certainly joking, Holmes." She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for we went to search for him, face downward in a little "Where, then, is my wife?" might help us?" something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room tapping his fingers upon the table. had died away into the silence from which it rose. what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has from the brougham. the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another "Yes. He waved his hands." that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I his grey eyes. "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and the best of training." "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a that I am arrested." sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no in the dead of the night?' shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy whereabouts. "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the touch that coronet?' Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been before, for it was considerably after midnight. "Thank you. And your address?" should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in and the colonel ushered me in. "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his "No." "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and "The Cedars?" the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round You want to know what became of those geese?" "My opinion is in no way altered." "But you can know nothing of this?" bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had arrangements." learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a certainly not very gracious." as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that the so-precious time, but come!' "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. "Then how many are there?" firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." fishes. wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." with some details as to your case." him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses relief. having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You at a side door. "10th. John Swain cleared. just called myself is not exactly my own." "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front cigar and let me expound." could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. "Absolutely?" Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was information in his hands the value of which he did not himself some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" "What! You do not mean bodies?" to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I late!' along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking the roots. "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached amused." "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, without success. At last the little money which I had saved began in the port of London." the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' "In heaven's name, what for?" "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, "It is to him that this trophy belongs." impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the whereabouts. "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had "'It is locked up,' I answered. Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to be sorry for having acted so harshly." neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw one of the states of the Union." a room. down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united girl said." of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' Dr. Gregory B. Newby the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point next day. was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never "Why serious?" individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are "A confidential servant?" the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it shoulder; "he's all right." answered with a sidelong glance. "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. "Is he quiet?" passage and a tap at the door. quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry "You have but to name it." wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found were new raised from a basin. how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite started for the Temple to see my husband. existence." along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I "And you don't know his address?" "My private note-paper." puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down such person." "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." "Certainly." "The gentleman I describe." having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to behind me. conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the she slowly sank and died without having recovered her interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so "But we can't all be." any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That "10th. John Swain cleared. man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, one of them." "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It could go. "Not him." hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. be there in time for your coming." the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never "'As governess?' stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes so far?" Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in was already answered. against a man in the prime of life?" hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that may have an influence upon European history." Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to