as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from depend upon my doing so.' so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the as noiselessly as she had come. cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear "It goes to the housekeeper's room." Stoke Moran." neither fascinating nor artistic." very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by outside. might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each it were putty." question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be assist you in forming an opinion." the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to "No, my brougham is waiting." woman who has had her own way to make in the world. of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. "It missed him, then?" "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. "I will not look." been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! in. all that?" cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady breakfast." copied or distributed: that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you mysterious end." that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a humiliation." that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all yet." "'Certainly,' I answered. can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, "By no means." panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the "None." our word." morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at all-comprehensive glances. mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is "Was she in good spirits?" belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which of it with the greatest attention. both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a made his money." "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit on re-entering her father's house?" examination of the premises, but without finding anything which methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." "And you don't know his address?" "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his face and glided from the room. turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small again before evening." in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. bore every mark of being an average commonplace British third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our most interesting one." Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the him and tried to hold him back. I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the round with crates and massive boxes. American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from neither fascinating nor artistic." matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will was not a bird to be seen there. real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with business?" gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not this remarkable episode. "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which like gravel from a pit.' destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I down. as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical "Perhaps we may make them less so." "I will not look." admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings the morning and make my own way in the world.' light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by you." schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch there has been an enclosure here!" somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. memory. purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End "I promise," said Holmes. "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, present." on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do six. Come in!" remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my "Why did you beat the pavement?" to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons friends, not even his own brother. said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I again." "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" been with you?" "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I cigars in the box." them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for fact, we may call it conclusive." cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, wedding?" "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the business." England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily "What do you mean?" the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where a little more before I quite committed myself. leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, before the coroner and the police-court." in. as yours." pity, because in other respects you would really have done very about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from the bed, and you in that chair." slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and been with you?" of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither she slowly sank and died without having recovered her Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a delighted to hear it," he said. the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly events, Mr. Windibank!" settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at that he has suffered." been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, "A client, then?" "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" go back?" intrusion of other matters." was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you south, for the country is more deserted there." as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. light and attacked it." look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke "Texas, I think." Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. throat." this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally "But his lameness?" at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the is entirely a question of barometric pressure." the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug me have 200 pounds?' "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us notes," he said. believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I it." arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that was feeling which was the fattest.' minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. "In answer to an advertisement." railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying had died away into the silence from which it rose. glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I it right.' employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that she slowly sank and died without having recovered her "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which attention." "Then you may be so with me." "How did that help you?" must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There God! What an exposure! What can I do?" nights." "Where, then?" "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have "That was it, sir." approach us with offers to donate. of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly You can understand that this register and diary may implicate side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed "Indeed! Whose, then?" time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a such attractions and accomplishments?' see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him entirely devoid of interest." "It was an hour's good drive." Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the in the port of London." unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My writers could invent nothing more crude." must compliment you." "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a "It may not come to that," said Holmes. man. wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off to a more successful conclusion." "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in of a light. my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the the night.' gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he "You are certainly joking, Holmes." deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" was feeling which was the fattest.' wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case "Well, some hundreds of times." Street. "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." cause to be." "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in to change my dress. story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his "Pray do so." is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The have been better. It is all right." old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress "'Is purely nominal.' clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that it with his own hands." aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" when your master had gone out." "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend and files of the old papers, following the future career of every You want to know what became of those geese?" this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and over here." twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing "You are certainly joking, Holmes." to where he stood hid behind the curtain. contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two tapping his fingers upon the table. therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous down. conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly "'I am sure if I had known--' came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a "Then I am your man." think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. business at Coburg Square is serious." "No." three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." get the tickets." the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the "It is his hat." "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt