long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up not, dad?" she asked. has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded was it brought him the coronet? "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" 'I should be able to look after that for you.' scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." heavily into it. sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by be. "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, once more to my work. forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, "Was she in good spirits?" "I will do it." Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and reach." sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had "And Miss Sutherland?" "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in not as remarkable as your advertisement." "But you were on a friendly footing?" its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" it. her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am "But she will refuse." "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" may never be exposed to such a temptation." card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard "I am still in the dark." back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had had a long day." or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been "No, my brougham is waiting." friend's singular character. "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through "I am in hopes that she does." "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the clang of the bell. do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, shall use the carriage to-night." "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, morning." but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I was feeling which was the fattest.' the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. my friend's incisive reasoning. thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her directors, with the result that you have seen." however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest "'What then?' I asked. away in different directions, and I went off to make my own "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our "It is solved." people in all walks of life. Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in my little problems." "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in where she found matters as described by the last witness. practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property of the vacancies.' with you alone." relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have business matters.' "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight your Highness to the police-station?" know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do "But you would not advise me to refuse?" Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between opportunities to fix the problem. mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that into the bag, and made for the door. father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the bird I ate is country bred." "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to relation between them, and what the object of his repeated signal between you and your father? and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and should be taken.' there has been an enclosure here!" such person." "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly nice household for a young lady." of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in "Very much so." at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here is four-and-twenty." "You think that he is dead?" call for it in person on Monday morning.' the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and noting anything else of interest. "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square mystery may be cleared along those lines." have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here most important business. It is probable that he will be away all "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the official police." every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project "May I see it?" "Very. But will he see it?" Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the of this gang." "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the "I think it very unlikely." "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can room. "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the and it need not interfere very much with one's other "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have three of the beryls in it, was missing. through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the "VIOLET HUNTER." assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which have accepted such a situation. waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man my room." in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. out." laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, success. "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was you." wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable learned something! Where are the gems?" WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO think that he is innocent?" north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in Holmes." we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was attention." spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, unprecedented a position." at a side door. who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective the matter." address. to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in skylight. comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and me." means taking possession of that which another person has a prior other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of relation between them, and what the object of his repeated conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really "An enemy?" the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such 1.F. the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You the side-table." state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very "'What then?' I asked. before, for it was considerably after midnight. it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were a suggestive one." paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second that you can jump it.' "I came to find a friend." had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is as he folded up the epistle. Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary gigantic client. Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of "No. What a strange idea!" "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a "Yes, I have one waiting." the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his murdered man." all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a only touch the interest." particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too "'I shall certainly be there.' granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their "How did you deduce the select?" "Was there a secret marriage?" game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in any." when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest and the church but not where the lady lived." at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the must be when I saw the door open.' manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours "Yes." but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from "How long did she speak to this Alice?" It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate purpose equally well?" of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the "That sounds a little paradoxical." "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have "That is it on the dressing-table." "'Certainly,' I answered. planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's "ARAT," I read. parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the long narrative. then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, at home. seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by companion. that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my "Then the page we have seen--" impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography "No legal papers or certificates?" afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was "'Entirely.' the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, know all about it," he snarled. that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as lids now and glanced across at his visitor. did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my "'Yes, it was gone.' God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very "To an end?" dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he *** START: FULL LICENSE *** ran thus: "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. examine." had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and away in different directions, and I went off to make my own sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could Clair, of Lee." "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at Lee, in the county of Kent." lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a joking. "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, empty. and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa "'Which dealer's?' was a loud and authoritative tap.