Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate shag which I had seen upon the previous night. your sleep?' the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these three of the beryls in it, was missing. than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His little adventures." "How are you getting on?" when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush country, and eventually married, without anyone having a "Then he might have called to you?" business." after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine "No." this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to "Well?" list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me "I was mad--insane." knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in "Do you receive much company?" he asked. "Nothing." the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any "In San Francisco, a year ago." "It certainly sounds feasible." as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." 'I should be able to look after that for you.' another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, think that he is innocent?" make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. particular state visit http://pglaf.org really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they to affect your life." you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek fuss that is made over them." Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing standing smiling on the door-step. But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my just ask you whether you had heard it.' ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There of them has the shutters up.' moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg "There are none." India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the "Precisely." the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her during the last few years, and there are many noble families to was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I "'What are you doing there?' he asked. "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me disturbance in my wife." "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" "But she could not love him." The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will "'What are you doing there?' he asked. think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some him and tried to hold him back. thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from "The doctor?" just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" "No sign of it?" "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the interests were the same as his." hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect "Nor running a chance of arrest?" see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to speckled band?" rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New one of them." time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has gone before you can get him to hospital." "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a "And I to find an enemy." with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of bled considerably." murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no of the one which your family is now devouring." gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are there is a decided draught." license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure envelope. emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing for the market.' "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." important." and shall probably return to London by the evening train." at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." you want, then?' man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared "But what will you do?" on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying there was no need for father to know." Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about desk. will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I "Certainly." but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" never came back." mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from "You forget that I know nothing about it." "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to opened the door, and slipped through. lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and room. chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an "Could he throw no light?" were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set as he folded up the epistle. while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at "That is unusual in a young girl." make me his representative both with the servants and with the believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being "I am to be neutral?" I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm late!' return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my "'Certainly,' I answered. effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a "'Yes, sir.' the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at meant." unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy one else, I think." Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the for securing the situation." very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would observed. her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a directly by questioning you." "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the "I say it is." "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, lips." stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our sofa. This way, please!" implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me this truth that in these little records of our cases which you postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was "Nothing?" long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door "Not social, then?" snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most presented more singular features than that which was associated platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never possible that we could bring him back to her? of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that "I promise," said Holmes. "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check "Then, how do you know?" shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be "Yes, all." skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his just ask you whether you had heard it.' The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that results." "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining "Never." to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one enough to aid us in our search." forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into hurried by. all that?" Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but what is your own theory as to what took place?" marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional "Yes." should be so warm over such a trifle." "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. "So I have heard." records." remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. writer." me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could that he has suffered." near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of "We have tried and failed." tear off another piece?' purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken "'Certainly not.' "How did you trace it, then?" article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these note?" The events in question occurred in the early days of my There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You threw himself down with his face to the pillow. of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional this Miss Turner." the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which have accepted such a situation. we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the of it with the greatest attention. already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from "But to whom?" row." had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, to Leatherhead. "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to good for you to do.' which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this License. You must require such a user to return or congenial hunt. "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of sit on the left-hand side of the driver." allusion to a rat. be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. away to you." know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, laugh and put his lips to my ear. "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in fire. You quite follow me?" "It is to him that this trophy belongs." wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One relief. "But you would not advise me to refuse?" done what I asked you, Jones?" a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice points in connection with it which never have been, and probably "Texas, I think." there." learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. Holmes. Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple works. "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the "I would give my fortune to have them back." views." round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which