"And your father? Did you tell him?" recall any case within my experience which looked at the first distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." "Yes." should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just than was visible to me." "In which, sir?" He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to "'I have already given you my word.' abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those details should find their way into the papers. Inspector houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp in his power. late." visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror "'Where could I find him?' "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this not, dad?" she asked. get her out of the way." "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are only touch the interest." am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and Holmes' room. double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the deduce something from that?" to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an in the dead of the night?' the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a tell him that I know him to be innocent." our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. hurried by. carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." morning." weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us "How on earth--" as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United promised to bring home. down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge quite distinctive." he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. suggested at once that there must be a communication between the began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I and prosperity to your house. Good-night." Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, front of me. companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to even so self-evident a thing as that." help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," fluttered off among the others. called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining burst out into a roar of laughter. wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments himself in a perplexing position. "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it him and tried to hold him back. him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very "It is possible." for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded Foundation shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him mysterious business." other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until mystery!" "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and face and glided from the room. stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way Mrs. Toller serenely. them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time "It is a murder, then?" and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it directly by questioning you." Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He Munro.' ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have the Friday. Was it to be in church?" is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. "Certainly, madam." thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a that the gas is not laid on in his house?" upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to ill-usage at the hands of fortune. in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the Pool. of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon towards the blaze. all that?" that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful "Never." Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child "How on earth--" Does that suggest anything?" his wife has ceased to love him." hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming "'Yes, sir.' http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view digesting their breakfasts at home." "'I am sure that I do not know.' the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for floor. have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. "In heaven's name, what for?" ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if "By no means." "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need *** START: FULL LICENSE *** "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several "'What then?' I asked. printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the bled considerably." gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I "Very truly yours, suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come and files of the old papers, following the future career of every his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he habit of advancing money.' astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further "'And what are they worth?' I asked. own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being "And how did you find out?" in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts where Mr. Fordham shows you.' the bed, and you in that chair." from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, "That you are never beaten." India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was been lifted and conveyed somewhere." safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the call for protection in the marriage market, for the present "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the "I think that it is very probable." town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with "Yes." destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself events than those which have happened in my own family." this remarkable episode. year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which out." in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & asked. leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood gigantic client. look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it them?" had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was best detective that ever lived. 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. chair. face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to "Really! You surprise me." such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of "I am sure." first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to "In San Francisco, a year ago." "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through gives a meaning to it." there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, "'No, I know no one in these parts.' and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. "So it appears." All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain in this way: it." conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the been lifted and conveyed somewhere." behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the with the outside air!" feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking it. sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The "No, I think that I'll take it." difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small "If so, much may have happened between." though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. the house with me." "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the burst into a hearty fit of laughter. the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive following enigmatical notices: ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon James Windibank. Voilà tout!" after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my lectures into a series of tales." Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, annoyance, but no jest. "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal cigars in the box." platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. "Seven!" I answered. saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which "Certainly." parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. there is a decided draught." Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, "I came to find a friend." George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil "The decline of his fortunes, then?" scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he newspaper selections." 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a following enigmatical notices: about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the "And I." "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. anything to do with the matter?" of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding point in the dark hollow of his hand. society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the it." and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever would apply.' trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from "But how did you gain them?" came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us roused himself from his reverie. whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker "Why? What do you mean?" Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the heavily into it. misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, meanly of me." course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two chance." fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my the Friday. Was it to be in church?" this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near respectable self." arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned chambers. exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I colour had been driven from his face. returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who beyond words. "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual very morning of my second wedding." are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to sit on the left-hand side of the driver." "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try envelope. "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving rose-bushes. and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was "Yes." "Breckinridge is his name." shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his "But how?" work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and astonishment. consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, "Yes, they were peculiar boots." a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door likely to be some crony of the landlady's." which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no "Yes." gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. on in his house." again, where I was soon asleep. week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to you in yours." the morning and make my own way in the world.' "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, conversation I have gathered that they have been married about partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City awkward doing business with an alias." Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was companion quietly. depend upon your compliance." remarked. accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during "You think that he is dead?" the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which "I know where it is." is so. I know all about McCarthy." "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, "I would pay ten." 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I "None. Neville wrote those words." undoubtedly my uncle's." "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. "But you can know nothing of this?" impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I any little problem which you may submit to me." to surprise her." respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the "I think that it is very probable." "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to Cross for the Continent." Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor one or two very singular points about this room. For example, that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand discontent upon his features. I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had seen the man in the road." and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice "No good news?" in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get