he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, "Then what has happened to him?" "Pray tell us what has happened to you." Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" trying to your nerves." said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the the window, rose as we entered. confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be foot. and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these congratulate you again." of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I will take you up to see the machine.' The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the "May I see it?" should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, "Your French gold?" iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but me, and I could not think that his explanation of the "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I it right.' Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned yards of it?' His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would "So I am. Very much so." have been better. It is all right." values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable when your master had gone out." "Just look it up, then." "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for kindly on the shoulder. than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing again on its way. waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so and all of them with the keenest interest. Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes "No sign of it?" the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire this unhappy family?" ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his "I beg pardon." writing, and yet I know it well." Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at was used.' remarked. back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for "'I have heard so.' cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his foresight and the moral retrogression?" "I cannot tell." you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend "How do you know, then?" very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and "Do you receive much company?" he asked. cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the fat-encircled eyes. a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by "Entirely." right! Sit down and let us talk it over." "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the "You are certainly joking, Holmes." suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite "And that is--" volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the that I may have something better before very many minutes are Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger "What I expected to see." stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon wedding?" "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance bearing upon the case." across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped the Friday. Was it to be in church?" to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are Where does the thing come from?' Watson," he said cordially. minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. conceal it?" urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' be. once more on the important position which you have been fortunate bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the over his head with a sweet womanly caress. hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. more solid." and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." better grown goose." had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There "You have a clue?" "And your mother is alive?" "Nothing." avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two Henry Baker is a member." Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a said Mr. Holder. the Assizes." act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most very old mansion. "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its "A call for help, you thought?" dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to not, dad?" she asked. "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off horse could go." "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it "You think so, too?" to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its "Precisely." formed some opinion?" 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an I took the paper from him and read as follows: "Perhaps we may make them less so." should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good "Yes, sir." Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, were wasted." laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. through." rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got that threaten you." of it with the greatest attention. Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious "Will you go?" anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." "Never." Lestrade of Scotland Yard." hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," as he remarks, very much against the son." of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees not use it unless it is absolutely needed." This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who situation." the address that was given us in the advertisement. "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the a suggestive one." hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in "My opinion is in no way altered." defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat "I see many objections to any such theory." "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend "It is his hat." anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of place, I think that there is good ground to think that the branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" within hail.' that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an "No. What a strange idea!" say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of in the hope of finding them." overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this pound a week." For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, at my remark. red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into pity, because in other respects you would really have done very "Game for a morning drive?" lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, over with notes and figures. "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." outside. attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of "And your father? Did you tell him?" world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, village inn over there?" loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my over with notes and figures. smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** is four-and-twenty." called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank call it cruel." When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was that threaten you." prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he you do it in twenty minutes!' shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I that "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little to change my dress. commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would Leadenhall Street--and--" From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to could gather together that I was able to avert another public held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches looking up at the numbers of the houses." forecastle of an emigrant ship. "'Certainly,' I answered. "A greater distance to travel." light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my "'Where to?' "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. fuss that is made over them." muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the the south-west, I see." "And I to find an enemy." and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, think that he is innocent?" "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will people in all walks of life. parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have "He slept on the premises." (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at as the one I chose?' "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must his wife has ceased to love him." silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." present strange and interesting features that it is no easy I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City him. "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the place, I think that there is good ground to think that the year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my his cane at the bell-pull. put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true the child." was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." direction." breakfast and whispered something to her husband. face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as "'Is purely nominal.' is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next "What! a murderous attack?" knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. salesman. commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the exactly what you advise." "Dirty?" "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not be sorry for having acted so harshly." will take you up to see the machine.' appeared upon the scene." "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social a suggestive one." air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your more solid." that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." this truth that in these little records of our cases which you destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to and put his glass in his pocket. from the brougham. once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at "You heard nothing yourself last night?" would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and "It missed him, then?" if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came "Nothing." "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' "Texas, I think." gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, business came to an end." developed." details." though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. "He is dead," cried several voices. to-night?" I asked. left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms for and were ordered to this address. snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his details." place no limit on the sum I may draw." cigars in the box." Again Holmes raved in the air. enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you tell him that I know him to be innocent." of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, were new raised from a basin. very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a returning from some small jollification and was making his way opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. digesting their breakfasts at home." Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and stalked out of the room. Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the and the whole place is in a blaze." next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, him to be an active member of the medical profession." "Now, then, what's the last entry?" "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow ceremony." man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into think that he is innocent?" judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do I was concerned in it." "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such Gutenberg-tm License. station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, dead, shall be safe with us." mystery." send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" "A thing like a cleaver," said he. of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a are, I think, all that we need." question you as to those details which seem to me to be most had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to call the police, let the police find what they can.' had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a "Well, some hundreds of times." "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s.