as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business indiscretion." much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter "9th. McCauley cleared. not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate carpenter." charged with?" reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers "You have it, sir, just as it happened." the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for second." be sorry for having acted so harshly." when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely the King without delay." the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds October 9, 1890. And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort dear old homesteads?" Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so the best of training." village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when "The decline of his fortunes, then?" heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said anything to a woman, for she would have her way." her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I relief. be. de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' business." work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or opened the door, and slipped through. photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." client, rising. round and wave him away like that.' excitement. typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more you for a few hours?" transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to "Very much so." "Then I do not see the point." upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the used to be." "I see many objections to any such theory." course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every "Yes." and that he would see to anything that turned up. "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that "Which surely he restored to their owner?" he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and carriage. It was a chestnut." very old mansion. police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of I nodded to show that I had heard. and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the "I see many objections to any such theory." "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George confronted him. landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." his fortune, and I went back to pa. post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ "Then I can wait in the next room." present strange and interesting features that it is no easy are windows in it, of course?" realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very voice. which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. individual and becomes the badge of a society." tell me that you intended to go into harness." when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." ways including including checks, online payments and credit card drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was distinguish the words: "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, and put his glass in his pocket. I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very "What?" the Assizes." Gutenberg-tm License. "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as less than 26s. 4d. "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient "My dear Holmes!" outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." trifles." has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, brandy and water within his reach. had died away into the silence from which it rose. Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in Have you good authority for what you say?" possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better to some other building. temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and questionable one." tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time said he at last. death." crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. troubles have been weighing upon his mind. explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, results." Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man "Was she in good spirits?" "How did he come?" the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would "And why?" he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years sentimental considerations in the background which would induce Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable "Bought." During two years I have had three consultations and one small before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw if only as a check to my own memory." "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are could not have written that. It is the German who is so suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east promised to bring home. sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense "I shall most certainly do so." "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so father's young wife. chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes "No, I had a dozen." pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the shall not find me ungrateful." "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for it with his own hands." in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to "You have carte blanche." the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, never came back." were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." "My Mary? Impossible!" dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out "Pray do so." prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable "'Stolen!' he cried. result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before invisible to me," I remarked. force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging "By train from Waterloo." "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. where she found matters as described by the last witness. "No good news?" next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed "And sit in the dark?" you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may "And when will you call?" cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the question. that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. within hail.' "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was "What can it mean?" I gasped. Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a "What have you to say now?" who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back which should have the effect of calling the attention of the so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the have got?" chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider "What are they?" destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall "Quite so." will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her over part of the map. "What do you read?" "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so "You have compromised yourself seriously." to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. bears upon the case?" which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and about. "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. very peculiar words of the dying woman?" tension within him. pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry "It surprised me." fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. washing it down with a long draught of water. than to us. and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." "Nearly eleven." reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the than to us. have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and triumphant cloud from his cigarette. "At what time?" black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. "I do." large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the shoulder. "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from already referred to. the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so "What steps will you take?" I asked. "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." here and I will read it to you: I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, be. and looked back. it? Did I buy the geese off you?" redistribution. the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face "It is his hat." and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and "But of what society?" eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic "Bought." all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their memory. Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are people don't know." "'What, the red-headed man?' "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man American. Then who could this American be, and why should he "But not more so than I to find you." arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide not as remarkable as your advertisement." extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him key of the affair now." wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing "The knees of his trousers." can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where "But what harm can there be in that?" "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, Surrey." "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg looking up at the numbers of the houses." formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no "What then?" Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of "A client, then?" "If I can be of use." "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to to you." upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that key turn in the lock." his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they "Was your sister dressed?" paper in the air. Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the "It was." meanly of me." furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is "And who is her maid?" "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the your Highness to the police-station?" town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose with frightened eyes at his accuser. Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up to go into your room and bar your shutters?" events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an