and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his imbecility!" he cried. all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he there in twenty minutes." "Perfectly so." His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have "My last client of the sort was a king." them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land "I cannot think." lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. point in the dark hollow of his hand. "Yes." meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies "I am in hopes that she does." heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is had no one to advise her at such a crisis." "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle astonishment. hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. "Deserted you?" "Breckinridge is his name." front of the hall door has given its name to the place. feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this "Perhaps I have." fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. "Pray do so." staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea "I came to find a friend." "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still gone. "'Is 4 pounds a week.' my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should tapping his fingers upon the table. "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but the King without delay." "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." way in everything. of the way of danger. "Your French gold?" of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what sake, don't!" chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and and it need not interfere very much with one's other Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian "I am armed." the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to call the police, let the police find what they can.' grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband despaired of." her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, "I cannot say that I have." "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a Holmes rather sternly. light and attacked it." story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was carpenter." "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, very old mansion. hard-headed British jury." "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the the general public were present, then?" particular state visit http://pglaf.org have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I green of the new foliage. an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon once more on the important position which you have been fortunate am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most to tell." this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the front of me. "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." affection." "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set "I would pay ten." "It looks newer than the other things?" Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew arms and began to sob in a high treble key. because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! more terrible than the truth. persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other of campaign. sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his Edgeware Road. of his shoulders. in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the of receipt of the work. "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his Count Von Kramm." such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something whether it answered to the description of any of their "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the or in danger--" is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the "I will do it." difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From which I could not give. He asked for Alice. "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. "There are none." collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an this man was intellectual?" "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." "Why did you beat the pavement?" usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the was lame." should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the know all about it," he snarled. "I don't say that. Perhaps." I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." "Yes, they were peculiar boots." "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran it." incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. upon a handsome competence. indiscretion." "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see occurred." unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if "Then, how do you know?" makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It his fortune, and I went back to pa. and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the "What steps will you take?" I asked. slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a thin, with a long, sharp nose?" "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. father's place of business?" week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? "You horrify me." "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how which should have the effect of calling the attention of the which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a and put his glass in his pocket. with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very down in his armchair and closing his eyes. plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man official police." waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch Where does the thing come from?' consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and "She will not sell." I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may child?' direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. "Very. But will he see it?" reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very as yours." the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to really the only notable feature about the thing." headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." not come at once?" could not have written that. It is the German who is so professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our "I cannot say that I have." benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with "Yes." which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward suddenly upon us." and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had golden eyeglasses. "They are typewritten," I remarked. to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly long narrative. door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for words came to my lips. him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest "By no means." "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as you." There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the Holmes. them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you stood on the top of it. foresight and the moral retrogression?" future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional you?' "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. hopeless attempt at recovering them." make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business "It surprised me." Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the empty. does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to back alive. see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, the morning and make my own way in the world.' the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt "What then?" has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he and that he would see to anything that turned up. will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my "Breckinridge is his name." touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a "The landlord of the Alpha." "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. 'I should be able to look after that for you.' "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The one which it was hard to resist. house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and question you as to those details which seem to me to be most "'Where could I find him?' Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among himself to hunt down. gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a is acting for the best. promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how his wife has ceased to love him." Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, just called myself is not exactly my own." their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen Pope's Court, Fleet Street." without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the "So it appears." urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money "Can I be of assistance?" sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must "By train from Waterloo." "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present "And what did you learn from him?" journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I "What are they?" were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend go back?" constraint." places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for recover the gem." was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have Does that suggest anything?" strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the are, and they are waiting for us." "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," see a sister of mine apply for." familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a see me here to avoid scandal." on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." points in connection with it which never have been, and probably Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." letters?" "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the States. Dr. Gregory B. Newby "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able instincts rose up against that laugh. heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. prisoner's face. "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is