"Then he might have called to you?" peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter in this note: Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, "Perhaps we may make them less so." for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he searched, without anything being found which could incriminate crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this take the flies, but not before." the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you presume?" of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" affair. crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He "And on what day did he meet his death?" "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual said I. "That is unusual in a young girl." another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a introspective fashion. o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. time." married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was "I warn you that they are very incomplete." "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" perplexity from it to my illustrious client. "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. "'You cannot say what it was?' photograph?" horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness unkempt, staring out at me. *** START: FULL LICENSE *** "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid lectures into a series of tales." far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally "An accident, I presume?" the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked some city in a dream. "Well, it is a possible supposition." position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place "What I expected to see." Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" "Proceed, then." concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that "Whose house is it?" "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads she used." never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He said he. SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge "We were both in the photograph." hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which "On the contrary, this is the right side." sound at heart." nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in read it out to me." registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I "Yes." other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in people don't know." "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be would then never go into court at all." breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His least a fellow-countryman. trifles." company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed "Thank you. And your address?" "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of the very letters. But what is this written above them?' "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. where she found matters as described by the last witness. there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of intimate personal affairs in this public manner." Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this "'And what are they worth?' I asked. the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but "'Never,' said I. in the hope of finding them." copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg "Where did you address your letters, then?" unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying money should be paid at once.' "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a call for protection in the marriage market, for the present "Texas, I think." "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him and laid it on the table. "Come in!" said he. Pool. It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying that there was nothing in it, after all." "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out to have that photograph." night.' said he. the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed acted in my house last night?" to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, "Certainly." object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an "My private note-paper." possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important was used.' that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the For additional contact information: enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had appointment with me for six o'clock?" writing, and yet I know it well." the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 Does that suggest anything?" makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a this truth that in these little records of our cases which you them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that man. "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. "No legal papers or certificates?" "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into despaired of." How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed hopeless attempt at recovering them." complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my "If so, much may have happened between." put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to "But he might be a bachelor." simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of persecution?" "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" in his power. through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the "What! You do not mean bodies?" the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in been shamefully used." settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down a few minutes he said that it would be all right. access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid colonel looking down at me. high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. Countess of Morcar's?" form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been the devil!" "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my you want, then?' stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. you, my dear young lady?' unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and manager. free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home papers on the sundial.'" eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." I was concerned in it." "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little companion quietly. "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, Where does the thing come from?' "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of jewels which you have stolen?' Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences opened a pocket-book and took out a note. returned to France?" in the port of London." "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and you want, then?' dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. quick march!" married her." "'In my own bureau.' profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the "ARAT," I read. looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a and I shall be with you presently." to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking there is a decided draught." have got?" as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, "And how in the world did you find them?" conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the was once confined in the cab my mission was practically agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few recover the gem." red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, "You know me, then?" interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink "Witness: It was. "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." Eyford." some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what standing smiling on the door-step. "Did you become engaged then?" "'What then?' I asked. be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose shoulder. "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic "It may not come to that," said Holmes. would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need cause to be." pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. here." first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works troubles have been weighing upon his mind. assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" "The gentleman I describe." but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" said he. the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless directors, with the result that you have seen." have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over province." straightened it out again. delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that look upon these things in a different way." "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me "Game for a morning drive?" discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the if she died from some sudden fright." cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was "Who by?" 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back Countess of Morcar's?" "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps memory. again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad nothing of it?" 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are exactly what you advise." flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for was lame." and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square geese which you supplied to the Alpha." "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off guilty parties." "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words "Precisely." every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely "None." exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. presume?" gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office "None." a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that "No, I am descending." bell. Holmes whistled. "Was he the only applicant?" rat could hardly pass through." "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he gigantic client. puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry nights." all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than his eyes and forehead. Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the since then to throw any light upon what became of him." this truth that in these little records of our cases which you got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's "And I." The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own geese which you supplied to the Alpha." in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an because she had spent so short a time in this country that she "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps "Dirty?" "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my "To an English lawyer named Norton." little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, License. You must require such a user to return or Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and awaited us upon the table. hard-headed British jury." clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; "It is very clear." into the room. since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a it right.' own family. was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk "The best possible." "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about For additional contact information: brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, note?" "And when will you call?" really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for she slowly sank and died without having recovered her of it with the greatest attention. "Upon what point?" "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" sufficient punishment." continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to is a common subject for conversation. weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical "The best possible." "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes,