is four-and-twenty." "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which "How did you deduce the select?" neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose standing smiling on the door-step. should be taken.' active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' "At the wedding breakfast." as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than "'Never,' said I. drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence morning." from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. "If I can be of use." I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the key of the affair now." possible that we could bring him back to her? in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had subject to the trademark license, especially commercial make me his representative both with the servants and with the Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And you in your example." "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he said I. Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, manager. We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down them?" And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before enter Dr. Roylott's room." man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and "Precisely." "Yes." elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two think, you have already met." there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What that he will be back before evening." Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much "Awake, Watson?" he asked. ways of our fellow-men." at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. "Oh, fresh and glossy." and all of them with the keenest interest. devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which something of him before." the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes you." wedding?" precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between been lifted and conveyed somewhere." wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at Have you good authority for what you say?" "And it is--" practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. records." strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his awkward doing business with an alias." "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was to-night?" I asked. "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped the Friday. Was it to be in church?" to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." crowd. developed." play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe such person." "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, locked." erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or "And I say east," said my patient. copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching a very grave face. entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not appointment with me for six o'clock?" Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried night.' said he. "We have tried and failed." "What! a murderous attack?" "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that "When did she vanish, then?" errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached "There are none." England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may had this final quarrel? to-night?" I asked. security.' the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since union?" With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. chambers. beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your fait accompli?" "Very much so." donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. "But she could not love him." some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of quick march!" creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, train from Paddington which would bring you there at about return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." advice." "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent window when the police appeared." tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of papers." have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no the armchair which I pushed forward for him. and shall probably return to London by the evening train." There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last conclusions. murdered man." he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. mystery!" "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are writer." crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six "I promise," said Holmes. pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we envelope. Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you an introduction to him?" Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I "Do you go out much in society?" "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." bears upon the case?" sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who "What, then, did Peterson do?" into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we she to prove their authenticity?" It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a and capable of preserving a secret.' hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. "Then I can wait in the next room." "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said that I may have something better before very many minutes are pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was dear old homesteads?" and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in in the hope of finding them." "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. soul! here is her carriage at the door." morning." His smile broadened. fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever instincts rose up against that laugh. mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her "Why, it's a dummy," said he. "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your cause to be." perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of Again Holmes raved in the air. we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to dead, shall be safe with us." his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. begun to whiten, even as mine has." "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" arms and began to sob in a high treble key. "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, had formerly been in part my own. that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been over his head with a sweet womanly caress. "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a your billet.' make me his representative both with the servants and with the send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open "But who is he?" is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to "My own seal." round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to "The rest you will leave in our hands." companion quietly. He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might "It is true that I have been generally successful." a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to on re-entering her father's house?" "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as things are very often connected not with the larger but with the "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled "But she could not love him." Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences how narrow had been my escape. had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his village inn over there?" here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which the stones. corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in to go into your room and bar your shutters?" before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been me." now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem "Is he quiet?" estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here character. the house with me." strength of mind to control. "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" clanging. "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the "One of his hands." shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the John Swain, of St. Augustine. to go into your room and bar your shutters?" from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those to-night's adventure." We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." "It surprised me." he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards forehead. was not a bird to be seen there. to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be upon the white wrist. by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is "I was mad--insane." all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with about here speaks of his kindness to him." have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the of the way of danger. "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had "What do you mean?" moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the will he say when he returns?" "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." in a friendly supper." A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," singular points about the case. What did the police think of the coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the started for the Temple to see my husband. occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent "And how?" It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through relief. "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a hopeless attempt at recovering them." country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to points in connection with it which never have been, and probably He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in Project Gutenberg-tm works. however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, his huge brown hands. thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to mystery may be cleared along those lines." to a more successful conclusion." Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured my little problems." 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a were wasted." however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible good for you to do.' Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and ago." The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to promised to bring home. dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding humiliation." interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and "Pray do so." Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the "'In my own bureau.' impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. posted to-day." The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard there is a decided draught." a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and depend upon my doing so.' assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief,