from you?" "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is 1.E.9. the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. "And now?" He raised his hand. all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon "What office?" furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those too. to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are woman." Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is them?" "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest to have that photograph." Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg "The vanishing of the lady." surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss to Leatherhead. "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And I. Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since "I guessed as much." presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more door?" sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this "Yes, at the mines." putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would gone before you can get him to hospital." writing, and yet I know it well." slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in bachelor.' "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind "He said that you could solve anything." Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was ordinary clothes on?" myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my "So I am. Very much so." would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin "He is still with you, I presume?" time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty "It is true that I have been generally successful." along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on "The Coroner: What do you mean? of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster tension within him. least a most suspicious remark." "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in was the fact that his father should, according to his account, be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by "None." "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in habit of advancing money.' agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few retorted upon me, and I on you." London for the present?" handed it to him. "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest acquaintance?" with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. good-night and bustled off upon her way. introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room "I cannot say that I have." that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that "This concluded the examination of the witness." mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more The King stared at him in amazement. said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to out of this horrible affair." can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, down. "You have it, sir, just as it happened." strength of mind to control. Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money "And now?" I asked. "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country "What then?" more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers spare." hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." charge against him will break down." "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch "Not yet." He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly "'Which dealer's?' assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to "Which are?" Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had do you make of it all?" building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a again, where I was soon asleep. is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, "Entirely." drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, "'Where could I find him?' "There are none." mystery!" the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was "Here?" very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. woman." "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we "I don't believe it." "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by that threaten you." child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but results." he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular "Nor running a chance of arrest?" basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the really the only notable feature about the thing." is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of vault. "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can "One of his hands." a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's stood on the top of it. is entirely a question of barometric pressure." "Did you observe the colour?" He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of never will be, entirely cleared up. hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her that you wished to speak to me?' "And why?" paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project "Game for a morning drive?" passage and a tap at the door. Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the "An accident, I presume?" "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who nothing with him." wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. and the church but not where the lady lived." "Precisely." situation." Project Gutenberg-tm works. either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter certainly do as you advise." salesman. "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet evidence," I remarked. of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. door?" passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and he died? "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, "But how will you look?" might help us?" round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my purpose of examination. "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, "Certainly." august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to "I cannot imagine." friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" your own bird, so if you wish--" "Yes." "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" "What! Had he lost his wife?" what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of "The doctor?" week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week not use it unless it is absolutely needed." in this note: bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, held up the lantern and gazed about him. the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of "Entirely." where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they letters?" horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that "You have carte blanche." his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. "Thank you. And your address?" My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted this truth that in these little records of our cases which you enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been himself to tell his story. "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the hurried by. "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." a monotonous occupation." man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have "No, distinctly professional." Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and papers diligently of late, have you not?" metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom again." Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was "I cannot tell." "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned companion imperturbably. believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as highly," said Holmes. uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag "And help." "Won't it ring?" "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." conversation I have gathered that they have been married about opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little new acquaintance to Baker Street. "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" him." Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable For additional contact information: and wait." orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this was feeling which was the fattest.' glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the "Get out!" said he. that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase drawing your inferences." Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of them present such singular features as the strange train of for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, you give your casting vote to?" or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, could not account in any way for the presence of the missing records." she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more his grey eyes. until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we better grown goose." push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear were wasted." should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes "What then?" There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of memory. strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said a suggestive one." perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' "Yes, at the mines." set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in "I see many objections to any such theory." Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom lamp in his hand. however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which "Where did you address your letters, then?" surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off 'I should be able to look after that for you.' tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, you for a few hours?" round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the case before our client came into the room." round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." him to go away.' "I was afraid that you were engaged." after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, placed his cuttings. Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it "Have you her photograph?" my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of papers diligently of late, have you not?" Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his any." no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. "Pray do so." laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress 1.F. continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third the nursery. "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It delighted to hear it," he said. "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution "But she could not love him." "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The "Certainly." "I will not look." digesting their breakfasts at home." police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had "Yes." madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on keep the flames under. father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing directly by questioning you." "I shall be delighted." Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story.