up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. "One of his hands." wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every Mrs. Toller serenely. in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. "I will do it." "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land know that the truth is known." "Then I shall certainly come." "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being husband's writing, madam." chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all she has been waylaid. There has been no result." as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the "Not particularly." at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. "Stoke Moran?" said he. suddenly upon us." round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the "She told me to ask you." assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' "You'll never persuade me to believe that." suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few that there was nothing in it, after all." "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" man. I know him from the photograph." unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" "I cannot say that I have." analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely "No, I am descending." Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the time." Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with "Always." "'There is a drive, then?' forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from "Then the page we have seen--" jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his your most interesting statement." rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. "Certainly." "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to his huge brown hands. black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society just ask you whether you had heard it.' over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the "A greater distance to travel." there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be were new raised from a basin. closing the door. lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind recall any case within my experience which looked at the first learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. States. Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were me." Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found "To an end?" quick march!" distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily "Proceed, then." third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all formed some opinion?" placed his cuttings. to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual will he say when he returns?" gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of infinite languor in his face. elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door kind enough to tell me what I should do." just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am at my remark. glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to too. in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the row." the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a "What will you say?" be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit pictures, libraries, or plate. very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that "Yes, they were peculiar boots." opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong "I am about to be married." And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies lost his Christmas dinner." "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at I took the paper from him and read as follows: of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security the warnings." side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that following enigmatical notices: "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." "'I have already given you my word.' "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in the devil!" have had none more fantastic than this." We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of wall." inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." papers must be those that are destroyed.' I have it here in my museum." "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, definite end. stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at towards the blaze. "Not in the least." pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came "When did she vanish, then?" "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I "So I have heard." "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of vague figure huddled up in the darkness. certainly not very gracious." point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny "'Most admirably.' without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate "Pray be precise as to details," said he. in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the it were putty." had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the "I saw her in conversation with her maid." "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, 'I should be able to look after that for you.' not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." "And from a noble client?" and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached was keenly on my guard against him. here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain is a common subject for conversation. "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building man. I know him from the photograph." much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at means taking possession of that which another person has a prior security.' slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At again on its way. just ask you whether you had heard it.' fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty knowledge of the world." "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the "How did that help you?" slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. "The Cedars?" I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become bears upon the case?" understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, signal between you and your father? have one." arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel entirely lost his self-respect." "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the dates and names. "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our "Was he the only applicant?" all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than "Has he come with you to-night?" "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have up this clue while it is still hot." "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five "It was." I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." "Quite so. She has her freedom." "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the which we had just quitted. in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and Lee, in the county of Kent." four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that even so self-evident a thing as that." "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, this unhappy family?" might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The foresight and the moral retrogression?" before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the down. downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, your bag." Sholtos." We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a "To an end?" together. "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I fear." sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." occupations.' the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the "By no means." "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from might help us?" "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after recover the gem." last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been shoulder; "he's all right." between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the went to the Alpha were town bred." money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. experiences." Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry was it brought him the coronet? "Yes, sir." "Oh, fresh and glossy." salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All "But she could not love him." "An enemy?" They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has "What! Had he lost his wife?" sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. to change my dress. written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and results." "Not yet." by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from "None." "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, within hail.' Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been appointment with me for six o'clock?" sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark indeed which he could not unravel. prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such "No." "And your mother is alive?" which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended questionable one." Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots things are very often connected not with the larger but with the "None. Neville wrote those words." huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the "Yes, I have one waiting." "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. "It looks newer than the other things?" About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, at my own good fortune. fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." o'clock is it?" never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my drove away. the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is that?' "But you can know nothing of this?" there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with opportunities to fix the problem. the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring "I see no marks." slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried "What I expected to see." would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen "I guessed as much." flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there prepare for the new role I have to play." "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the "You will not go there first?"