a monotonous occupation." "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was geese which you supplied to the Alpha." for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing "But of what society?" Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as manager. analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before "On Monday." souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind "You will not go there first?" tear off another piece?' of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have awkward doing business with an alias." shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if himself to hunt down. words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. good for you to do.' "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial wanted for ourselves." few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George I was concerned in it." do.' "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass "To ruin me." whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had away to you." "I will do it." "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the guilty one." "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, your own bird, so if you wish--" "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less "Where to?" "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to at my own good fortune. "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but these bleak autumnal evenings." Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must "By train from Waterloo." any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." Holmes. beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. Holmes' face clouded over. How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." "Pray let us have it, for all that." many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view unclasping of his long thin hands. possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a of your young ladies.' what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down "My own seal." THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' words came to my lips. could gather together that I was able to avert another public indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love "Your presence might be invaluable." deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then "Never." The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a business?" called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis been." window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her "What, then, did Peterson do?" therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. him to be an active member of the medical profession." appeared upon the scene." the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission and have this put in the evening papers." lost nothing by them." the child." "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." this truth that in these little records of our cases which you a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' populous neighbourhood." great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly "Yes. He waved his hands." "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may weary and pale-looking. depend upon your compliance." "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to started for the Temple to see my husband. above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I of the one which your family is now devouring." the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It charged with?" "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." "'Where to?' because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note wedding?" "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, written. grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light did not hear it also.' "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our "Where to?" business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive woman who has had her own way to make in the world. photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." which our visitor detailed to us. 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that writers could invent nothing more crude." "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for Pool. produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. http://www.gutenberg.net the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with there in twenty minutes." time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and "We were both in the photograph." the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed It may be so in this case, also." Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove "Then I am your man." another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss "It surprised me." "What office?" wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" roused himself from his reverie. Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the following enigmatical notices: "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to tightly behind him. to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our and put his glass in his pocket. the house with me." you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of "Nothing?" down in his armchair and closing his eyes. instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. derbies." that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, allusion to a rat. window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, a room. and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened "'And the work?' top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of "Your French gold?" "And now?" He raised his hand. such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do "What! You do not mean bodies?" upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." the coronet in his hands?" said I. "Yes." away to you." "By train from Waterloo." "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out "But you were on a friendly footing?" "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." 'I should be able to look after that for you.' other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. at my remark. impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend gbnewby@pglaf.org bore every mark of being an average commonplace British the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me whole matter to your consideration." you understand?" of it with the greatest attention. maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely "What of the rat, then?" his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were and your relations to her." black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently was a loud and authoritative tap. with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin down in his armchair and closing his eyes. "Not in a good cause." "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, to his chemical studies. Munro.' ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, during which he might have communicated with his friend the shadow pass over his face as I spoke. "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so "Pray continue your narrative." where she found matters as described by the last witness. imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London posted to-day." London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out "'Never,' said I. successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear "One of the highest in England." performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net "And for present expenses?" quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue appointment with me for six o'clock?" traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She "I think it very unlikely." "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond "Certainly." been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid photograph?" long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully unprofitable." buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a "It is true that I have been generally successful." "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. "Where, then, is my wife?" "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses new duties?' "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. breakfast." her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone "How many? I don't know." But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in results." "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most "Nothing?" seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three details should find their way into the papers. Inspector to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his the King without delay." Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before ceremony." you." "When did it break out?" from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. "When did it break out?" seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could yet." hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take Mary, has deserted me." was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of individual and becomes the badge of a society." fact, we may call it conclusive." "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous think, you have already met." the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of "Yes, sir." "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing and the church but not where the lady lived." paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very the King without delay." should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San writers could invent nothing more crude." who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser one of the states of the Union." with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It lectures into a series of tales." From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, "What then?" "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and