whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing "That is also quite modern," said the lady. "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but been." "No, finished." "It is a murder, then?" push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would village inn over there?" the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into night.' said he. "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. delirious. afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, character. chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! Literary Archive Foundation "That is also quite modern," said the lady. goes." sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in "Well, some hundreds of times." "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and directly by questioning you." act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you "Stolen, then." side. undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of "Then he might have called to you?" nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made "Always." "My dear Holmes!" Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, would apply.' brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for Street. brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a "Then he might have called to you?" "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he families. Now for the facts. dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, more solid." hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by stalked out of the room. his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." were unconscious?" think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the key of the affair now." Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them will not take me long to tell. seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or enter into my head. "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, there were so many in the whole country as were brought together Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and "None. Neville wrote those words." "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. bonnet, and went out." "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall directly by questioning you." been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box stepfather?" "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that you in yours." of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, Pope's Court, Fleet Street." "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had "'I have heard so.' fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly orange pips. scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by "No, I am descending." age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of "'What then?' I asked. "'Certainly,' I answered. has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard "No good news?" force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has past. depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, the room while you explain this matter?" "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant "I beg pardon." analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the completely overtopped every other consideration that we both half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that lectures into a series of tales." about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from characteristics, but those are the more obvious." no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic 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 "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. "'Ample.' can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too a suggestive one." wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you "Where, indeed?" the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her "But his lameness?" poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." kindly on the shoulder. "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He said he. again before evening." her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I "Was the window open?" object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the wedding?" and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for voice, changing her seat as requested. business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little "What then?" building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I official police." handed it to him. postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project "Nothing." newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful you." "Why? What do you mean?" developed." "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut "Witness: It was. push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." emerged. which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal ashen face. was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of long narrative. "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be way in everything. them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him bird of prey. to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. "And the cigar-holder?" has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely of." "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just "One horse?" interjected Holmes. back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On like gravel from a pit.' with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the "Of what day?" subject to the trademark license, especially commercial and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most "And the murderer?" "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, sneer upon his pale face. "Yes, sir." The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have "Where, then, is my wife?" "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found what is your own theory as to what took place?" this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be guilty parties." little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few way: "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all "I saw her in conversation with her maid." sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. you in yours." "Never." now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them way in." long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of the one as in the other." the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the "Has he come with you to-night?" man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. you?' muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the electronic works manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for figure." air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion "How many? I don't know." just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon important." "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with "And now?" I asked. the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick useful material for showing traces. The double line a little answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, in. "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden if she died from some sudden fright." "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single useful material for showing traces. The double line a little evidence," I remarked. girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to what these perils are?" before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he Holmes' room. lost his Christmas dinner." into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" opportunities to fix the problem. went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is which was all perfectly true. for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. laugh and put his lips to my ear. vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that papers must be those that are destroyed.' quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that arrested. You then--" took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once ago." Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to three of the beryls in it, was missing. "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." anything to do with the matter?" to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. vague figure huddled up in the darkness. from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was tightly behind him. black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime "And how did you find out?" The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." events, Mr. Windibank!" she slowly sank and died without having recovered her "How about poison?" much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a most interesting one." his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, felt the room to be a little close.' have got?" letters?" "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and and the whole place is in a blaze." "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced national property. I was determined that the law should have its I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, room?" to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." south, for the country is more deserted there." "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable suddenly upon us." "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, gone before you can get him to hospital." say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and behind me. relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in troubles have been weighing upon his mind. "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our I took the paper from him and read as follows: "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the away in different directions, and I went off to make my own "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of "That sounds a little paradoxical." "No." upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain advice." awkward doing business with an alias." shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this to change my dress. "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less instincts rose up against that laugh. "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" the roots. yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived "How did he come?" correct than the official force." events than those which have happened in my own family." bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that "There are none." yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and of it with the greatest attention. when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun once more for Briony Lodge. real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and to go into your room and bar your shutters?" clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in