the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it "'Certainly,' I answered. Doctor, of the paper and the date." "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project It may be so in this case, also." fashion which was peculiar to him. It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the my secret was safe in his possession. "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 What do you deduce from it?" him and tried to hold him back. "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the "A confidential servant?" Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, "Then, how do you know?" springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the that threaten you." "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out it." jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a "'Ten to two.' propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of "It is no ordinary one." could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, "In which, sir?" "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We "Where did he live, then?" In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, "My stepfather's business papers." suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of a very grave face. and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and started for the Temple to see my husband. He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' whatever might befall. "None." "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to to me. "And leave your case unfinished?" which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" "It's nothing of the kind." envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has about here speaks of his kindness to him." you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so where she found matters as described by the last witness. fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers dramatic, in fact." dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard crime. "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a "And from a noble client?" the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, you do it in twenty minutes!' me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in This is what he says: providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best placed his cuttings. think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is "Yes." "Perhaps we may make them less so." "Pray do so." For additional contact information: Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the "'Not at all. I only doubt--' "Yes, they were peculiar boots." square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their "And Miss Sutherland?" "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my call for it in person on Monday morning.' hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, of the one which your family is now devouring." strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from most important business. It is probable that he will be away all rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End asked. "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of hardly wander." very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took "How did you deduce the select?" behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I my friend's incisive reasoning. 1.E.9. no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the "Where, indeed?" was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently mystery may be cleared along those lines." "Just look it up, then." go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had charged with?" happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, "Your presence might be invaluable." my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in "I was mad--insane." bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day answer." refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of appeal." can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, good-night and bustled off upon her way. The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at a very grave face. the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your stepfather?" think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our his huge brown hands. English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the Holmes." "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." Clair, of Lee." at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which me. You must get home instantly and act." "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend "Certainly." public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I records." man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of dates and names. Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding said I. walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle "Precisely." "She walked into the breakfast-room." this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark the warnings." hour?' discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide "'Never.' "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as to a more successful conclusion." "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's some water from a caraffe. in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special crime." fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I Holmes. morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the giving me time to thank him. once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the been deceived." the station." probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and our word." if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the despaired of." side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant would then never go into court at all." down in his armchair and closing his eyes. sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had murdered man." observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons presume?" "In the cells." "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, him to be an active member of the medical profession." Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it shoulder; "he's all right." and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we writers could invent nothing more crude." general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of "He might." estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. and have this put in the evening papers." the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the heavily into it. "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by be.' would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly the running down." Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us desk. "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical lost his Christmas dinner." prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a the bed, and you in that chair." never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned "'Oh, no.' at home. "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you acquaintance?" "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood door?" "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged "What!" he roared. your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot "Then what has happened to him?" and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap young Openshaw's." partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few business." my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and charged with?" at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out "I cannot imagine." "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The that threaten you." despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such stalked out of the room. disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred door?" papers must be those that are destroyed.' have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for "It is possible." leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: "You heard nothing yourself last night?" Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the death." fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" dead, shall be safe with us." his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and "And how in the world did you find them?" down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. asked. coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew visitors." words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred "Yes, he did." sake, don't!" said he. may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to "What will you say?" buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his outside. business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to "'Where to?' remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what fatally injured? second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a I. "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as and all of them with the keenest interest. God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." "You have it, sir, just as it happened." information in his hands the value of which he did not himself "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be arms and began to sob in a high treble key. and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that call you and give you the chance." greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. the house with me." wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time nonsense.' relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, "A client, then?" rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell outsides of the windows. "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. writers could invent nothing more crude." "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to http://www.gutenberg.net said he. only touch the interest." occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution "And how did you find out?"