opened the door, and slipped through. "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." London for the present?" "In answer to an advertisement." lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a "But his left-handedness." man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That official police." The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an mystery may be cleared along those lines." livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be dear old homesteads?" dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. "What have you to say now?" "But what harm can there be in that?" he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement writing, and yet I know it well." stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream indiscretion." rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses discontent upon his features. "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his that you saw all that I did." "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and "When did it break out?" "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late me upon any point which I do not make clear." little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" gone. "Where, then, is my wife?" them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of upon the shelf for the interim." We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way "Then I can wait in the next room." I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in nice household for a young lady." quickly through a disagreeable task. inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be "Witness: Nothing definite. "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of possible that we could bring him back to her? yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after remarked. eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which you understand?" of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the she has been waylaid. There has been no result." "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been "Then you may be so with me." over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was returned to France?" claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between "But how did you gain them?" police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at "Yes, at the mines." down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now lips." "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been arrangements." and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means money should be paid at once.' allusion to a rat. immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a late!' in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one "Only as much as we can deduce." dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But "Yes, they were peculiar boots." to-night?" I asked. walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken indeed which he could not unravel. tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" walking." unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the "'Not at all. I only doubt--' brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the "And you can do nothing until then?" dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; "Very much so." "Your French gold?" Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood attention." Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told for its centre. for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to advice." "And I." Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling "The vanishing of the lady." outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small important." receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case "What I expected to see." light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is brought there to personate someone, and the real person is along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had in the hope of finding them." sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of States. criminal. We have already had experience of such." extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad or other trace. But how on earth--" "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that trying to your nerves." me. which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the have been better. It is all right." see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the "Well." attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after desk. bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and the loss of it. education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" "An accident, I presume?" be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may not use it unless it is absolutely needed." The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in "What then?" is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which "My last client of the sort was a king." he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, "But I am all in the dark." "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I "Why serious?" "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, Farm upon the left." and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to "Seven!" I answered. me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they hour." quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more one which it was hard to resist. either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four "Because he was handy and would come cheap." he bowed and left the room without another word. remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and one or two very singular points about this room. For example, and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all "'Certainly not. But why?' occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington that you saw all that I did." companion. come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and tightly behind him. Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had one's self under obligations.' bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window are, I think, all that we need." in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair important." everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our front of me. might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that the house with me." some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of "Yesterday." beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." eavesdroppers?' *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but "By train from Waterloo." exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates tell them apart.' when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance cigars in their mouths. "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have was already answered. The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow ashen face. clang of the bell. "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a "Pray do so." we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this learned something! Where are the gems?" previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the figure." intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" of them has the shutters up.' work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." me. You must get home instantly and act." yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself read it out to me." upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. chemical work which was so dear to him. Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the "The gentleman I describe." outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You means taking possession of that which another person has a prior "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and back to my heart. her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and "What?" very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been "And why?" and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? second." McCarthy." of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security Lee, in the county of Kent." for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive "And why in hopes?" what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. awaited us upon the table. may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper American. Then who could this American be, and why should he "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of "Do you go out much in society?" great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had highly," said Holmes. matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared correct than the official force." roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which the house with me." "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does through." like that before?" through." his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and "I will, Miss Turner." with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this night.' said he. "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful "What do you make of that, Watson?" not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls gentleman's clothes. bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have "At what time?" "The King of Scandinavia." 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged "To an English lawyer named Norton." fire. You quite follow me?" know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and question. should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something least a most suspicious remark." cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as "Eh? What was that?" last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic "Absolutely none." matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring salesman. bled considerably." The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that populous neighbourhood." "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my disturbance in my wife." besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me you?' "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It