"Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is "And sit in the dark?" Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black "Well." red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb with frightened eyes at his accuser. weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that unprofitable." He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." DAMAGE. "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste strength of mind to control. very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and "I have seen the police." much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect round with crates and massive boxes. "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of hurried away. leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to note?" Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do she slowly sank and died without having recovered her The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by "Were they all fastened this morning?" "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You and the whole place is in a blaze." those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have "I don't say that. Perhaps." "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have "You were travelling in the States?" a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned away in different directions, and I went off to make my own sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an "Yes, there are nearly always some there." her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and placed his cuttings. "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before Farm upon the left." only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my "Not yet." broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" weapon." "We must have a cab." "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and villagers almost as much as their master. recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, "Nor running a chance of arrest?" as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated "I have come for advice." "'Oh, no.' "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our quite distinctive." searched, without anything being found which could incriminate perplexity from it to my illustrious client. seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. yourselves in at night?" given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and in him." know what is wrong with it.' Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is photograph?" knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who bare slabs of marble. appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy towards the blaze. There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." more solid." from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who Edgeware Road. tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He which are rolled in Rotterdam." mysterious business." other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then that there was nothing in it, after all." glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. Holmes. and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and cigars in their mouths. you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" the south-west, I see." the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into works. See paragraph 1.E below. erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand brought there to personate someone, and the real person is in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" brought there to personate someone, and the real person is is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I "Why, what do you mean?" heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for confronted him. "Yesterday." was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his opportunities to fix the problem. of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is would then never go into court at all." "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." upon an income of about 60 pounds." me. to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." "Because he was handy and would come cheap." settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and "No, distinctly professional." "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it was feeling which was the fattest.' out of this horrible affair." the King without delay." person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, "She told me to ask you." Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you observed. "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from girl said." "I shall be delighted." returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the "Just look it up, then." go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated eat it." written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at thin legs towards the fire. that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, me. has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that "No, finished." and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in trying to your nerves." "'What then?' I asked. your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So side. 1.F. discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen of the vacancies.' stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of had formerly been in part my own. "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to Holmes. "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her front of the hall door has given its name to the place. "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King "I am following you closely," I answered. Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." will take you up to see the machine.' rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! delighted to hear it," he said. if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and you do it in twenty minutes!' copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative again on its way. was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" locked. week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to already referred to. "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite have I gained?" door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the "'What would be the hours?' I asked. of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no "That is it on the dressing-table." when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. "This photograph!" lumber-room." "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in lectures into a series of tales." Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of one of them." "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but "It is to him that this trophy belongs." direction." "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. "I don't believe it." giving me time to thank him. coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for "Nothing?" superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking is now desirous of getting those letters back." beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' The King stared at him in amazement. manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover enough to aid us in our search." the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his present." though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a charged with?" "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute situation." "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of The telegram which we eventually received came late one night "But of what society?" clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in "You forget that I know nothing about it." the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without "Who was the criminal, then?" glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. "It is true that I have been generally successful." might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room sound at heart." the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any you?" the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It there!' shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the o'clock is it?" "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she society." "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" been." "But you were on a friendly footing?" "Yes." "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old again before evening." security.' "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over my room." Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. whole matter to your consideration." Leave Paddington by the 11:15." "We were both in the photograph." One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it call the police, let the police find what they can.' only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many way: impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend one's self under obligations.' I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." as the one I chose?' in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the me what he had done with the three missing stones. "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who over part of the map. "What do you read?" success. "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was better grown goose." lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of case-book, which he consulted. impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me with some details as to your case." opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing letters?" research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that "'I have heard so.' had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, acted in my house last night?" spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a did not hear it also.' Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over this truth that in these little records of our cases which you Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be politicians who had been sent down from the North. deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the feature." "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin have one." and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind the bottom.' I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman desk. her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it future lives." the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard points to suicide?" friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed one else, I think." "Come in!" said he. you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had to talk it over. them?" few hundred pounds.' research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." in his power. one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to interests were the same as his." robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." "Was there a secret marriage?" his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for