Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." brought there to personate someone, and the real person is What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the British peeress.'" you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must your room." sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. "Have you it here?" was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open and laid it on the table. conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account upon a handsome competence. It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had case before our client came into the room." always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was secret." The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." the south-west, I see." "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was Pope's Court. "Where is it, then?" "Certainly." comes from the middle window." The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill himself. I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the is so. I know all about McCarthy." of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my "But who is he?" "I know where it is." alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a him to go away.' so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were "But how?" before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that stammered. meant." plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me yards of it?' "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, had no one to advise her at such a crisis." at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the copied or distributed: floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. standing smiling on the door-step. more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the made him keep the appointment." "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by "In San Francisco, a year ago." "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock confronted him. Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in secret." even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. asked with his eyes open. as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg "A call for help, you thought?" "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales "Pray do so." abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a children over to America with him, so that I found myself without typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which dramatic, in fact." "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the "That you are never beaten." served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three "'Most admirably.' villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at one of the states of the Union." and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a "'You cannot say what it was?' not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the "'I am sure that I do not know.' "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad introspective fashion. hour?' fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' bird of prey. "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second "And that is--" playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn not within a twentieth part of the market price." the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and dear old homesteads?" ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box to some other building. and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either used to be." "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back and all of them with the keenest interest. hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the unprecedented a position." Pool. unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire Street. Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal views." note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I that I may have something better before very many minutes are to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they "Will you bet, then?" pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with which it had come upon my father." Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of the south-west, I see." squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. "On Monday." public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything "'Certainly not. But why?' "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. is worth.' "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This already been minutely examined." "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out you in your example." was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who strode off upon his way. roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person know what is wrong with it.' heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her will not take me long to tell. eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it "Your French gold?" week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. "Perfectly so." the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how which I could not give. He asked for Alice. was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. "What steps will you take?" I asked. The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that companion imperturbably. peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it "Of Friday, June 19th." surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." "Where did you address your letters, then?" pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had formed some opinion?" "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United You can understand that this register and diary may implicate If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers in my life." "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has point in the dark hollow of his hand. smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me DAMAGE. former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what http://gutenberg.net/license). was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen handed it to him. "I came to find a friend." shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried became a certainty. understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly The telegram which we eventually received came late one night "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the Holmes' thin, eager face. test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, crime." must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's you understand?" "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," chamber." he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. of a light. This is what he says: that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the "You have carte blanche." wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had thirty. him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into "Where is it, then?" Leave Paddington by the 11:15." season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds she slowly sank and died without having recovered her to a light-house. excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call events than those which have happened in my own family." august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." locked." side. he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was Where does the thing come from?' "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had the tragedy. slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up wedding?" "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of "He is dead," cried several voices. of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than tail." very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in "'Then let me do so?' late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' "'I have already given you my word.' not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second get the tickets." inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black "And you can do nothing until then?" reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but "No. His orders were to stay in the house." importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when and that he would see to anything that turned up. We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the American. Then who could this American be, and why should he what these perils are?" who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far "By no means." does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds "It may not come to that," said Holmes. the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for manager. "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. round and wave him away like that.' too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless public press." "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" seen the man in the road." A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. page at http://pglaf.org "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper leaning back in his chair. some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you reach." events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce "No sign of it?" it with his own hands." be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough place, I think that there is good ground to think that the waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or he bowed and left the room without another word. "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good again." voice. He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and