object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which "Bought." delighted to hear it," he said. "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened to-night?" I asked. and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and wedding?" "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose "I will try. What is it?" fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are to me. tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been where we are going." "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own fire. You quite follow me?" conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." would apply.' reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very "You were travelling in the States?" and effective." the house with me." said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It made his money." hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this green of the new foliage. to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master to have that photograph." "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit province." "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of ago." only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' "In answer to an advertisement." which are rolled in Rotterdam." "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. in his power. produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the spark where all is dark to me." "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be them?" from you?" or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at conduct the inquiry." could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." the room while you explain this matter?" mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at as noiselessly as she had come. and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. "And how did he make his money?" "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." "I assure you that I am in your hands." note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there "Where to?" on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and was used.' that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in burst into a hearty fit of laughter. "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the entirely lost his self-respect." brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, felt the room to be a little close.' just called myself is not exactly my own." shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal that threaten you." "And I." precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one "What of the rat, then?" "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen never came back." will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled "I answered that I had not. remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an "Yes." very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my again before evening." "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his "Yes, the wine-cellar." time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally and your relations to her." friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the which should have the effect of calling the attention of the however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and Sutherland?" step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able time." of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the to Leatherhead. looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their used to be." It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been room had already been engaged for us. The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to "'What are you doing there?' he asked. "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It "I should wish to." any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford a monotonous occupation." disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope not as remarkable as your advertisement." "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." Serpentine Avenue. quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I the inquest, and which are worth considering." with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," you?' writers could invent nothing more crude." brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she trifles." to his chemical studies. I held the little printed slip to the light. value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the better in every way that they should make their position a little union?" unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his I approached. had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. you came in." dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not frequently gained my first real insight into the character of The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly such person." "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that "Pray let us have it, for all that." "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far some place of shelter and let the county police know what has me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. "How long did she speak to this Alice?" misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a he. "It certainly sounds feasible." footfalls from the street. really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and my friend's incisive reasoning. "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' posted to-day." "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah narrative." "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from it. which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass detective. with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. way: photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason are, and they are waiting for us." "You have but to name it." "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the "But we can't all be." "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very in a friendly supper." to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons very peculiar words of the dying woman?" is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own his cane at the bell-pull. seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, public press." "Oh, fresh and glossy." and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into "I should be immensely obliged to you." had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. without a word or a look. precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called "Pray do so." "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow up this clue while it is still hot." peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked to go into your room and bar your shutters?" Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. locked." of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed habit of advancing money.' "Dark enough and sinister enough." call the police, let the police find what they can.' aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a delighted to hear it," he said. be best to do. "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a "And Miss Sutherland?" acted in my house last night?" introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in the Friday. Was it to be in church?" the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" depend upon my doing so.' will he say when he returns?" Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to weigh very heavily upon my conscience." homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in "And what did you see?" was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. tied." forbidden door. "Game for a morning drive?" if I call to-morrow?" question you as to those details which seem to me to be most of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. "Nothing." trifles." with you alone." pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always "I think it very unlikely." friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no him." fled together." The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my brain must have something in it." from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in you, my dear young lady?' "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it little adventures." many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner "I have my revolver," said I. that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my maiden herself was most instructive." out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may orange pips. Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never to affect your life." "I have my revolver," said I. schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. I approached. her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce have an American origin." said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the better in every way that they should make their position a little "'Yes, sir.' "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." was shining brightly. was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which "Not social, then?" "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one call for it in person on Monday morning.' thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now "Your sister is dead, then?" the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, "Yes." "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in you give your casting vote to?" enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." did not hear it also.' "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon "None." heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael clang of the bell. "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety leave you to your papers for a little." Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled emerged. the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil all-comprehensive glances. I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his Literary Archive Foundation acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled "'No, I know no one in these parts.' there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not