shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last "Then you may be so with me." client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can upon the white wrist. have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the questionable one." I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he eavesdroppers?' without success. At last the little money which I had saved began it right.' and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just foot. slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will noting anything else of interest. for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but "No, I think that I'll take it." Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction it right.' signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." spark where all is dark to me." through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing the driver. "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, have established a very serious case against the son of the adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove when you have done it." of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my leave you to your papers for a little." 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as American. Then who could this American be, and why should he she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then "Oh, fresh and glossy." questionable one." "I think it very unlikely." transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it the inner apartment." family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." that the gas is not laid on in his house?" "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave "'Entirely.' in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in colonel looking down at me. "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his over with notes and figures. introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I shag which I had seen upon the previous night. pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I present." Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, back into the street. "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood extraordinary contortions. the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while wall." that I am arrested." suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms "Deserted you?" beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been "It was an hour's good drive." quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the "You horrify me!" fasten all the windows?" the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right were unconscious?" some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not in this way: "Yes, all." adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock on re-entering her father's house?" seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while answered with a sidelong glance. vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that kind enough to tell me what I should do." separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if deduce something from that?" man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very "You are certainly joking, Holmes." presume?" and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches frequently gained my first real insight into the character of "'What then?' I asked. against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until their singular warning or token before them when starting upon something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and or in danger--" poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I not interfere, come what may. You understand?" I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs must compliment you." "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of "But what harm can there be in that?" the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child "9th. McCauley cleared. "Was your sister dressed?" have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been Count Von Kramm." hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt "Nor running a chance of arrest?" "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast points in connection with it which never have been, and probably retorted upon me, and I on you." he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have "Eh? What was that?" across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any because she had spent so short a time in this country that she could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me ways including including checks, online payments and credit card way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. brain must have something in it." news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low "Yes." central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered "No, my brougham is waiting." call for it in person on Monday morning.' "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as all-comprehensive glances. then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are public press." that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat occupations.' black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. "Tired-looking or fresh?" "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the breakfast." London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. any little problem which you may submit to me." drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds the King without delay." with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her future lives." "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of the inner apartment." present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed this Miss Turner." the one as in the other." with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I "Where, then, is my wife?" the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. ran thus: these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was "But it has twice been burgled." landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to fluttered off among the others. "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" four million human beings all jostling each other within the "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your charge against him will break down." and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in "I never have." Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection "Well, but China?" fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You said I. defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked she used." the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the again on its way. asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' himself in a perplexing position. upon the white wrist. "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or "Proceed, then." the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to photograph a cabinet?" say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend impression behind it as though a window had gently closed "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, "That is also quite modern," said the lady. relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight forehead. this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I purpose of examination. nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his during the last few years, and there are many noble families to told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done breakfast?" apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not that I can to serve you." James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your out of this horrible affair." the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a been shamefully used." you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no "Well." size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but forebodings. down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a woman who has had her own way to make in the world. "BALLARAT." "'Is 4 pounds a week.' James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the seen the man in the road." "What steps will you take?" I asked. Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at "And how did you verify them?" ill-usage at the hands of fortune. the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, "'In my own bureau.' "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and "And you can do nothing until then?" sneer upon his pale face. keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall up this clue while it is still hot." other means.' quick march!" memory. marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked his fortune, and I went back to pa. "'I have already given you my word.' was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked bonnet, and went out." of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I Sholtos." you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew "'Is 4 pounds a week.' could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond "Of Friday, June 19th." typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his envelope. bearing upon the case." cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could presented which may be striking and bizarre without being purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded have not had my rubber." statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not highroad, where all traces were lost. summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My "It must be recovered." fasten all the windows?" street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to "'What then?' I asked. Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in "It may not come to that," said Holmes. caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they bedroom door." "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" *** START: FULL LICENSE *** may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, horse could go." "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem time." said I. family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project respectable self." man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" instincts rose up against that laugh. patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally away into the river." that the gas is not laid on in his house?" which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however,