closely." have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My "Nothing?" Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is "How on earth--" "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well you." as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, sparkled upon his finger. Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a main points of my analysis." the address that was given us in the advertisement. God! What an exposure! What can I do?" "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" him to go away.' years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A to change my dress. freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a "The gentleman I describe." "Not yet." be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a there when the Rucastles went away." Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the deduce something from that?" "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side Young McCarthy must be got off, however." which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That "No." "To the police?" out of this horrible affair." may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. "Dark enough and sinister enough." "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was you came in." ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind call you and give you the chance." besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a thin, with a long, sharp nose?" dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion "What do you mean?" "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, "And I." to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to he. little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy presented more singular features than that which was associated correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened "In which, sir?" kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. "No." dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found where she found matters as described by the last witness. used to be." memory. The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," depend upon my doing so.' "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to he bowed and left the room without another word. Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San at my own good fortune. "Yes, only one." glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or generous with you in money matters.' and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing Where does the thing come from?' suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had "Nor running a chance of arrest?" hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the "Pray tell us what has happened to you." his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the "'A dozen yards or so.' tear off another piece?' boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a careless servant girl?" "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever ready to-morrow?' in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of neither fascinating nor artistic." the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich in a very precise fashion." What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be right! Sit down and let us talk it over." "'Yes, sir.' of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I even so self-evident a thing as that." matter." King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just not, dad?" she asked. twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a "Has he come with you to-night?" across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a them present such singular features as the strange train of "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my words came to my lips. While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." "Perhaps I have." "No, my brougham is waiting." upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders away into the river." "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same "There are none." machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his thought that she would have been so carried away." If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that towards the blaze. "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying The telegram which we eventually received came late one night have one." possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate II. "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a "At what time?" felt?" started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: "I do." every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far "Did he not advertise?" the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the towards the blaze. took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss the morning and make my own way in the world.' photograph?" "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a photograph?" more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, this unhappy family?" "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked into the bag, and made for the door. "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his do." form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to strange features which were associated with the two crimes which rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud other lovers by making love himself." grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, "Of Friday, June 19th." passage and a tap at the door. "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." you give your casting vote to?" sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most "And how have you succeeded?" agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side "One of his hands." Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a room had already been engaged for us. little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low "Was there a secret marriage?" hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking at my remark. set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in "Not him." to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the mysterious end." closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, weary and pale-looking. "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a you." look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." hardly wander." had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever "Then you may entirely rely on me." "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came "At half-wages, in fact." "Not him." an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must "But how did you gain them?" "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though I took the paper from him and read as follows: upon a handsome competence. and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went one's self under obligations.' served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a "This photograph!" though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of Holmes rather sternly. the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his "How did he come?" "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, golden eyeglasses. chance." there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate the iron safe, which he closed upon it. despaired of." say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his speckled band?" blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I "And I say east," said my patient. "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of "The vanishing of the lady." yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given orange pips. taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. "Why serious?" takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual window when the police appeared." "No." after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other "She told me to ask you." days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, nothing of it?" springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his shall use the carriage to-night." "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the outside." reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to papers must be those that are destroyed.' "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their before, for it was considerably after midnight. "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." least a most suspicious remark." even of instruction." danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in is," said he presently: the iron safe, which he closed upon it. "By no means." ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our "'Certainly not.' no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE "Did your wife hear all this?" common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to who was a member of your goose club." It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no