Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it memory. delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like prepare for the new role I have to play." stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and wanted for ourselves." prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to "He said that you could solve anything." Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible front of me. "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our carried out of court." your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year was a lad." the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his before the coroner and the police-court." Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this it means?" assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love such attractions and accomplishments?' chill to my heart. wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." habit of advancing money.' the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was "'Ample.' too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in For additional contact information: ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and I was concerned in it." half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London to that open window." "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. yet." a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking the stones. have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I the iron safe, which he closed upon it. world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat to me. "Why serious?" glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the "'Very good.' Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much meant." Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been which it had come upon my father." habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you possible that we could bring him back to her? unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between the Assizes." "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his is acting for the best. deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It already referred to. enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six me." "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang you want, then?' - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "Stolen, then." heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his there in twenty minutes." veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is me, and I could not think that his explanation of the "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the bachelor.' astonishment. "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. unclasping of his long thin hands. in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. "But you can know nothing of this?" light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such "Because he was handy and would come cheap." grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I directors have had misgivings upon the subject." there in twenty minutes." some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the himself. thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave way in everything. "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and plantation.' purpose of examination. flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect arrangements." of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know examination of the premises, but without finding anything which should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I you for a few hours?" statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the "And Miss Sutherland?" sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up "Ah, but I was recommended to you." the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the "Certainly." back into the street. "He said that you could solve anything." with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was upon a handsome competence. investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced 1.F. them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria "I am still in the dark." Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it completely overtopped every other consideration that we both bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had only touch the interest." mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you investigation." "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and "Which are?" Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would "It came here." upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has License. You must require such a user to return or address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the What do you deduce from it?" shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit meanly of me." woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I "And what did you learn from him?" as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some unclasping of his long thin hands. "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by posted to-day." certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and "He is still with you, I presume?" fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of as he remarks, very much against the son." sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." "Certainly." animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and how narrow had been my escape. informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been "And leave your case unfinished?" the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon ordinary clothes on?" I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which returning from some small jollification and was making his way "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have "Not particularly." that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." letters?" green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this charged with?" enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low where she found matters as described by the last witness. through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated "But not more so than I to find you." a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be pierced for earrings?" very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and you in yours." some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre "Well, but China?" and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. frequently gained my first real insight into the character of you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to hour?' "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something go back?" station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped "We must have a cab." annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into be there in time for your coming." "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." village inn over there?" "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be "Pray continue your narrative." little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he remarked. of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the "He said that you could solve anything." the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. "'Where to?' key of the affair now." had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm means taking possession of that which another person has a prior presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they the iron safe, which he closed upon it. exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too figure." 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." test if we have an answer to our advertisement." there were one or two details which were new to me. But the so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, never will be, entirely cleared up. Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, Holmes." end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I was a lad." in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little "And how did you find out?" everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil fat-encircled eyes. The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" be sorry for having acted so harshly." stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature "In which, sir?" Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such business." betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." legal crime." - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to The King stared at him in amazement. "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did bedroom door." horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon that, and I came down." upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. cost them two and thirty pounds." answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." the inner apartment." which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank it." bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the then?" Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one "'Most admirably.' "At the wedding breakfast." respectable self." rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of 'I should be able to look after that for you.' Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from lamp in his hand. prison!" as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while Serpentine Avenue. disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that which I could not give. He asked for Alice. furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. Holmes rather sternly. Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my questioning and rather startled gaze. the side-table." Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." you." entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his "Perhaps we may make them less so." farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the "It's nothing of the kind." my friend's incisive reasoning. "'Yes, it was gone.' crime. "How on earth--" "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of brandy and water within his reach. rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed his grey eyes. some water from a caraffe. sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and