rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open enter Dr. Roylott's room." "The Coroner: What do you mean? laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high delighted to hear it," he said. emerged. round with crates and massive boxes. front of me. which was all perfectly true. clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a will be renamed. But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace orange pips. should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will "You were travelling in the States?" some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you his forehead." Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" the address that was given us in the advertisement. my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. "Yes, certainly." began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few forecastle of an emigrant ship. waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates within hail.' hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a "I cannot tell." "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. "But you can know nothing of this?" the best of training." shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, "Did you observe the colour?" "He said too much." without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great of note-paper. It read in this fashion: may never be exposed to such a temptation." "That you are never beaten." "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed "Dirty?" "I cannot as yet see any connection." prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting call for it in person on Monday morning.' happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened one else, I think." theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too "Thank you. Pray proceed." very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." have not had my rubber." compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached an introduction to him?" International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt prepare for the new role I have to play." misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. "It is half-past ten now." "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love bare slabs of marble. "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." some place of shelter and let the county police know what has imbecility!" he cried. The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found "It is solved." Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I advice." "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it tell them apart.' he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her seen the man in the road." From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the province." a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which than was visible to me." would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was see a sister of mine apply for." Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, of this gang." form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. advice." idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her "You have carte blanche." "Nothing." without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with "Well, it is a possible supposition." I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal own family. journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the one or two very singular points about this room. For example, It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is "He said too much." enter Dr. Roylott's room." "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in purpose of examination. "Yes, they were peculiar boots." "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old "It was a confession," I ejaculated. "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in the dangers which encompass me." papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler conversation I have gathered that they have been married about shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. more terrible than the truth. for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The laugh and put his lips to my ear. "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, relation between them, and what the object of his repeated together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort country, and eventually married, without anyone having a so far?" have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all asked with his eyes open. "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in "How did that help you?" obstinate." observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his "Yes." wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should my little problems." "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on 1.F. his cane at the bell-pull. permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, mysterious end." said he. "What is it?" sneer upon his pale face. Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, "A call for help, you thought?" The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked must be when I saw the door open.' "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said Leave Paddington by the 11:15." extraordinary contortions. very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short them, and came down just as you departed. copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance figure." "What!" he roared. "Yes?" "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every to-night?' presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the "From his hat?" much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had "But how will you look?" at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by "I am in hopes that she does." "So it appears." yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time strong reason behind." "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in what I may call a really hard day's work." wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day it right.' few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong wedding?" "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy "How do you know, then?" "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. "'I have heard so.' "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which I approached. my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are obstinate." you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, as the one I chose?' the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, woven round him. he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to standing smiling on the door-step. I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, "She showed me, as I told you she would." upon the white wrist. man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and that threaten you." condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those his huge brown hands. more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers photograph a cabinet?" quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray "It may not come to that," said Holmes. and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to the station." conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy congenial hunt. chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. just called myself is not exactly my own." "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards "Always." and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to eat it." "ARAT," I read. to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty the one as in the other." "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the "It is to him that this trophy belongs." "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming visitors." surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I suggested at once that there must be a communication between the scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three "What I expected to see." "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much sooner or later she must fall a victim. "'I am sure if I had known--' known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." "'Yes.' contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he relation between them, and what the object of his repeated Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me happened." daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left "I have my revolver," said I. concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may which was all perfectly true. yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black fishes. "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes have had none more fantastic than this." clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a face and glided from the room. formed some opinion?" look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my during which he might have communicated with his friend the side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the http://www.gutenberg.net and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and in a very precise fashion." sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in "Ah!" be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, one else, I think." brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my guilty parties." Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we "Where, then, is my wife?" to-night?" I asked. he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; showing my impatience. completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary presented which may be striking and bizarre without being come either from the window or the door. My attention was but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to "Indeed! Whose, then?" ready to-morrow?' for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his the window, rose as we entered. "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of