his huge brown hands. "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to "But you were on a friendly footing?" deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is "I am to be neutral?" frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in the warnings." "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works "Pray continue your narrative." thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" politicians who had been sent down from the North. "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did "What is it?" pity, because in other respects you would really have done very the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, "'Is 4 pounds a week.' who was a member of your goose club." "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, taking in every detail of the apartment. "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the "You forget that I know nothing about it." "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the indeed happy." rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her already been minutely examined." "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" "It is very kind of you." seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than is four-and-twenty." it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her "How often?" to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and read it out to me." probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of call the police, let the police find what they can.' rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. suggested at once that there must be a communication between the hard-headed British jury." sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a directors, with the result that you have seen." woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed in darkness. stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly "It missed him, then?" winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting the general public were present, then?" "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." relation between them, and what the object of his repeated neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't Pope's Court, Fleet Street." "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, bare slabs of marble. was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we "Nearly eleven." commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" "And how did he make his money?" cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from bled considerably." credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too "To the police?" introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' "Did he not advertise?" salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your a good hundred miles off by now." the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress said he. and the church but not where the lady lived." Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and "Nearly eleven." brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black call you and give you the chance." know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he singular points about the case. What did the police think of the before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite me." out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, extraordinary contortions. was keenly on my guard against him. Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep "Thank you. Pray proceed." weary and pale-looking. The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on "Do you receive much company?" he asked. "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like one else, I think." "'Most admirably.' remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the voice. scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the "Dr. Becher's." "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought "But his left-handedness." looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' quite distinctive." "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who It may be so in this case, also." I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I and prosperity to your house. Good-night." "But what is it you wish?" "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing "And you don't know his address?" hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it been deceived." all?" stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds "I say that I have solved it." There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have at home. winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. Cross for the Continent." Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to "You have but to name it." once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he awaited us upon the table. back alive. Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the "You don't mind breaking the law?" to me. "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you foot. from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of made him keep the appointment." conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which "Yes, certainly." I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet "I see no marks." a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For sparkled upon his finger. "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying bears upon the case?" "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an "To an end?" the nursery. English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us some mystery and the punishment of some crime." judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a so far?" suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of have an American origin." chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am place, I think that there is good ground to think that the headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock "Yes." way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring enter Dr. Roylott's room." "And why in hopes?" assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had been deceived." hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall hurried by. well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and "Was she in good spirits?" towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and "We have tried and failed." her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you from you?" I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me that you saw all that I did." people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point bell. Holmes whistled. does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls "It goes to the housekeeper's room." fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the "What are they?" "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." "That is unusual in a young girl." silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." I am not easy in my mind about them." characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set "'I am sure that I do not know.' introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the the running down." did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a all?" her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking "You have carte blanche." deduce something from that?" joking. "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were "You have compromised yourself seriously." idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing easy-going way." fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" "That is possible." in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. "But what is it you wish?" possible that we could bring him back to her? a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might and all of them with the keenest interest. observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, in him." "ARAT," I read. Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there "How are you getting on?" a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and "Then, how do you know?" means taking possession of that which another person has a prior it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon "The best possible." know all about it," he snarled. collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all ready to-morrow?' suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with to that open window." day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can His name is Francis Prosper." Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." stalked out of the room. plantation.' Again Holmes raved in the air. instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can cigars in their mouths. "That is easily got." at home. "She will not sell." careless servant girl?" vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of "Always." rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, he died? "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle Eyford at 11:15.' understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so and the colonel ushered me in. thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right triumphant cloud from his cigarette. "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do envelope. "You have but to name it." which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my friends, not even his own brother. my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and such person." houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it particular state visit http://pglaf.org wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully "I should like to see him very much." official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a habit of advancing money.' with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that money should be paid at once.' "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were "There is the writing." "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been "This concluded the examination of the witness." backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to "Ah!" "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a "And sit in the dark?" "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of "It is solved." "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in "You have it, sir, just as it happened." "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late written. fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, "You are certainly joking, Holmes." and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this