I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I down. hand, madam?" matter over." "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel "'Certainly not.' he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the know that the truth is known." "Was your sister dressed?" Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father "In heaven's name, what for?" prison!" my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban of the efforts of the United States government and of the better who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to him to be an active member of the medical profession." of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your "Was he the only applicant?" male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the always that they were such commands as a lady might with grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns "Yes, certainly." will take you up to see the machine.' I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his "What then?" are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they "Yes, from Horsham." "Why did you beat the pavement?" Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered "But I am all in the dark." companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" James Windibank. Voilà tout!" sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to interests were the same as his." good for you to do.' wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he strength in the others." "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my ourselves in the office." to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally such attractions and accomplishments?' across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while tapping his fingers upon the table. "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. fuss that is made over them." like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a "Certainly." much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, notes," he said. and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty carried out of court." thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The "That is not always so easy." "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. see me here to avoid scandal." and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that shall use the carriage to-night." giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey "'Never,' said I. silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the know what is wrong with it.' "To the police?" feature." "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and where Mr. Fordham shows you.' "Nothing." The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its "An accident, I presume?" brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm bare slabs of marble. the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save ran thus: very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of chemical work which was so dear to him. sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close until night should bring an explanation. the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. "Yes, all." deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day place, I think that there is good ground to think that the threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to things are very often connected not with the larger but with the defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can stammered. walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of daring than any effort of the imagination." instituted." "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us the bottom.' collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was she to prove their authenticity?" "He is still with you, I presume?" call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did and the colonel ushered me in. only touch the interest." "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly business matters.' I was concerned in it." "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had "Well, it is a possible supposition." "No, thank goodness, she did not." Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "But his lameness?" sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was fish-monger and a tide-waiter." without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so business matters.' "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from since then to throw any light upon what became of him." "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' cup of tea. called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after "The murder was done with it." bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed once more to my work. drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, the coronet in his hands?" still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and "Always." "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent nice household for a young lady." "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on minor matters until to-morrow." "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed suggested at once that there must be a communication between the "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. records." shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her "I cannot think." desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before affection." nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to "And is that all?" recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact "You think that he is dead?" Serpentine Avenue. asked. that there was nothing in it, after all." registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a conceal it?" "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered "I have my revolver," said I. He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. "And why in hopes?" "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek enough to aid us in our search." business at Coburg Square is serious." "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, light and attacked it." "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the "'Certainly not. But why?' it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. over with notes and figures. who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. "Which surely he restored to their owner?" thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of simple cases which are so extremely difficult." and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I whole matter to your consideration." A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and works. "What can you not understand?" I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but "And who is her maid?" daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to compunction about shooting them down." Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my very old mansion. centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate companion. starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we 1.F. are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, business at Coburg Square is serious." point in the dark hollow of his hand. hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. enter Dr. Roylott's room." jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it narrative." singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which way: which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk Countess of Morcar's?" on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and hereditary King of Bohemia." the coroner come to?" interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one "At half-wages, in fact." the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." fish-monger and a tide-waiter." their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his once more for Briony Lodge. were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have it." "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is dear old homesteads?" and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his something of him before." the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would "Was he the only applicant?" complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after obstinate." singular points about the case. What did the police think of the it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search Again Holmes raved in the air. We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. people in all walks of life. all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." "That sounds a little paradoxical." "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective indeed happy." it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," Henry Baker is a member." cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become it right.' The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his salesman. to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. Sholtos." young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." maid will bring up your coffee." so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a the side-table." the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining of campaign. "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped really the only notable feature about the thing." nothing of it?" back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his awaited us upon the table. and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you in my life." been anything against him. He had for years been known as a another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, been able to understand it, in a very few words. wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I several quiet little villages up there." understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the ways including including checks, online payments and credit card He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my you found me to-night--and running through the front room she anything to a woman, for she would have her way." "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent was used.' what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully everything which you would wish to know." "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and "The murder was done with it." father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my at a side door. 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been off." over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was "Was the window open?" informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of that you wished to speak to me?' call for it in person on Monday morning.' "He said too much." essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could "And what did you learn from him?" Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the such person." went to the Alpha were town bred." "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. "Quite so." stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have of your young ladies.' Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, depend upon your compliance." "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the "Never to return." no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. affection." the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was and wait." The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. "The vanishing of the lady." a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few "But I am all in the dark." going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out "But the mystery?" reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." companion. you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a been able to understand it, in a very few words. you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a "Pray do so." week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over locked. "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the "It must be recovered." dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of "'No, I know no one in these parts.' along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of "Yes." Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of acted in my house last night?" usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?"