is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the singular points about the case. What did the police think of the "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." to tell." accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to stalked out of the room. of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and awkward doing business with an alias." hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for "No, I think that I'll take it." "I have come for advice." in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting "No more words. Get out!" are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. that the gas is not laid on in his house?" "What of the rat, then?" he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said amused." peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, coat-tails." little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I important." "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of gone. often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who "BALLARAT." temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." she slowly sank and died without having recovered her to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable "Seven!" I answered. standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property "So it appears." "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house "But how did you gain them?" "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some returned to France?" arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so extraordinary contortions. possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of about. "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three What do you deduce from it?" dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried "I assure you that I am in your hands." peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the You can understand that this register and diary may implicate an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" "Whose house is it?" "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the said he, "my real name is James Ryder." a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt the window, rose as we entered. "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little away in different directions, and I went off to make my own Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual "None." "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right was feeling which was the fattest.' "Come in!" said Holmes. consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it "'Not at all. I only doubt--' The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to "Just look it up, then." "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly "Was she in good spirits?" and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. writing, and yet I know it well." the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. the inquest, and which are worth considering." which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all chair. there was no need for father to know." "Why did you beat the pavement?" "What then?" I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his "That is unusual in a young girl." the running down." "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting me have 200 pounds?' was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that "That is unusual in a young girl." If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves "Yes, but only for you and me." voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, not use it unless it is absolutely needed." and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird comes from the middle window." "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and business in the City. She little knew what. "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in His name is Francis Prosper." 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the ordinary clothes on?" "You horrify me!" soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a hands. "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual "Yes." the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only into her hand at the door and which lured her within their "And how have you succeeded?" screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that 11:15.' "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong "I have a cab outside." looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and garden below. say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that which are rolled in Rotterdam." Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both the running down." from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself The police have openly confessed that they can at present make considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." pressing in one house as in another. called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and your sleep?' another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of said he, "my real name is James Ryder." address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at "What do you make of that, Watson?" which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah affection." "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes know that the truth is known." was shining brightly. "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, the little opening for the ventilator is." mysterious end." "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. him!" glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom he. this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of that I may have something better before very many minutes are going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my "His face fell immediately. now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no him." most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project ill-usage at the hands of fortune. in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the be best to do. instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew "Yes." orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He "I do." "This photograph!" grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of "And is that all?" never came back." from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted distance from the station, and there we found the young lady the armchair which I pushed forward for him. "Of what?" adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance suddenly upon us." and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring unkempt, staring out at me. halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' purpose of examination. it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both his grey eyes. was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of and glanced through. letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert meant." was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had Eyford at 11:15.' that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock whether it answered to the description of any of their convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark clang of the bell. "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known happened." marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off "I assure you that I am in your hands." the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one "Why, what do you mean?" "And did you observe any change in her then?" "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in prove to be little relation between the different incidents of seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most washing it down with a long draught of water. "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his "It must be recovered." like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. "In heaven's name, what for?" copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know read over the extraordinary announcement. on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be fuss that is made over them." inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet "What shall I do?" She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." on re-entering her father's house?" There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my you want, then?' partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The to some other building. things are very often connected not with the larger but with the article?" said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. back alive. they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with key turn in the lock." "Deserted you?" to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more "What will you do, then?" and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in "Perfectly so." time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, "Not yet." forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been thought that she would have been so carried away." vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must "It goes to the housekeeper's room." "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for "Why serious?" stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from "It must be recovered." London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could of them has the shutters up.' say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no Leadenhall Street--and--" "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any