"And what did you learn from him?" continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. "What! a murderous attack?" it means?" said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a opened a pocket-book and took out a note. and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" bled considerably." the child." Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my official police." his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the neither fascinating nor artistic." "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow "'Never,' said I. family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I Farm upon the left." "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar question. which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded "No." "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not dead, shall be safe with us." ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, Holmes' room. neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington with frightened eyes at his accuser. of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential "That's no good." the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any McCarthy's innocence. doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well if she died from some sudden fright." "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. hour?' a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the bare slabs of marble. which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement must compliment you." outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of Holmes." by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in whole matter to your consideration." "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." "Proceed, then." "Well, but China?" "So it appears." admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect "I am still in the dark." newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the in a friendly supper." vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. From what you have told me I think that it is possible that coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, "I cannot imagine." "It's nothing of the kind." 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera Foundation dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO attention." more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as "Why serious?" his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on several quiet little villages up there." the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He "None. Neville wrote those words." days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us you for a few hours?" "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled during which he might have communicated with his friend the cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the the iron safe, which he closed upon it. very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had introspective fashion. of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as Foundation case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, I nodded again. drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your Project Gutenberg-tm works. British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes "And did you observe any change in her then?" you found me to-night--and running through the front room she "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his have one." "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning "Never to return." Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he our word." jewels which you have stolen?' upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the "Can I be of assistance?" I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying But Holmes shook his head gravely. "I think that it is very probable." had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. the ceiling. "Then he might have called to you?" and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable there was no need for father to know." idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but I. if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." "'What do you call purely nominal?' out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a "Married! When?" Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting "What shall I do?" Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern open." Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. dear old homesteads?" "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of "The knees of his trousers." followed. do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." "Yes, from Horsham." family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to returned to France?" "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of the little opening for the ventilator is." dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with words came to my lips. which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer business at Coburg Square is serious." the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few himself to tell his story. opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea "You were travelling in the States?" easy-going way." "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope as he remarks, very much against the son." problems help me to do so." "Her father is very rich?" "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in "Your French gold?" furiously. dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' weapon." "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. "Have you her photograph?" though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make cause to be." We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and call the police, let the police find what they can.' of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." and glanced through. "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes used to be." "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed likely to be some crony of the landlady's." as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more "It came here." "Yes, I have one waiting." it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great prison!" for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" Farm upon the left." "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, looking up at the numbers of the houses." active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' "Seven!" I answered. "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the the one as in the other." something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently the bed, and you in that chair." galvanised. closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such have accepted such a situation. error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram drove away. "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some could go. dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than some water from a caraffe. safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' to you." out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they other lovers by making love himself." to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense "'Yes, sir.' fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to was once confined in the cab my mission was practically Eyford at 11:15.' tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread to have been novel and of interest." wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He The note was undated, and without either signature or address. came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a my room." to-morrow." scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, Stoke Moran." whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary "But what is it you wish?" is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they "And did you observe any change in her then?" number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything closing the door. estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" "Yes." "Precisely." doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose "What!" he roared. "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither "Whose house is it?" the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ away to you." which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his cup of tea. troubles have been weighing upon his mind. "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and call for protection in the marriage market, for the present of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some "And you thought he was pulled back?" let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled said he. glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he future lives." up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little question you as to those details which seem to me to be most "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing politicians who had been sent down from the North. has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which "Ha! you find it so?" and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but the coronet in his hand?" "So I have heard." rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A "Very murderous indeed." "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three crime." lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the "This concluded the examination of the witness." Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the "None." might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his "In which, sir?" subject to the trademark license, especially commercial "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking "'Certainly not. But why?' very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your see a sister of mine apply for." away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a "Well." "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment "10th. John Swain cleared. flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, been anything against him. He had for years been known as a quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and putting in the horse. something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. "How on earth--" elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do tassel actually lying upon the pillow. headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held "And I." accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said appeared upon the scene." "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I recover the gem." "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. society." These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and