some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." ourselves in the office." from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying "Not I." "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his and effective." "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as business." relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She where Mr. Fordham shows you.' "And what then?" heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His your Highness to the police-station?" hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon Leadenhall Street--and--" you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days things are very often connected not with the larger but with the him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for most important business. It is probable that he will be away all thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more "I have hopes." "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' charge against him will break down." determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little "Did your wife hear all this?" had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I use an arc-and-compass breastpin." "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge our word." whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial "Yes, the wine-cellar." Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, father's place of business?" machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he chambers. doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible wedding?" discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a "Where, then, is my wife?" "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried "No, thank goodness, she did not." desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other shall use the carriage to-night." into the room. once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he way: "How did he come?" seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the against a man in the prime of life?" has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. "Yes. He waved his hands." him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as weapon." "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I a few minutes he said that it would be all right. great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was was a perfect sample of the class. results." seem to you to be relevant or not." would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, "But who is he?" still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" "Yes, there are nearly always some there." my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of "'Where to?' seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. "That's no good." "And how in the world did you find them?" "'I am sure if I had known--' strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the "Yes." furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing heavy and sharp instrument." the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said "None." them?" face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his into the room. at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists advice." "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door hardly wander." system of imprisonment?" the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer know that the truth is known." "It surprised me." business in the City. She little knew what. empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence was keenly on my guard against him. in this note: bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a think that he is innocent?" fish-monger and a tide-waiter." was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how best detective that ever lived. discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, me have 200 pounds?' not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of "And the cigar-holder?" and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of him and tried to hold him back. which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. "Can I be of assistance?" have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a "My last client of the sort was a king." "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." in. "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose distinguish the words: watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington our word." province." landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told "No, distinctly professional." twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. galvanised. once more. still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" gentleman's clothes. coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that at my remark. "'Yes.' over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. man. politicians who had been sent down from the North. It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped indiscretion." of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened "At half-wages, in fact." "'What would be the hours?' I asked. breakfast." which should have the effect of calling the attention of the the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece upon the white wrist. behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with "Yes." gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my morning." her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, woman." the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a families. Now for the facts. 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to carried out of court." "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and if only as a check to my own memory." daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." of a light. sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from "'Certainly not. But why?' massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was help us in this matter." it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I away to you." and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several "In the cells." shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock father's young wife. left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend him, that man would not have given me such complete information astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, appeared upon the scene." of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which telegram would bring me down to your help." my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not "I should be immensely obliged to you." nonsense.' on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. "But what harm can there be in that?" See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one answer." august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." made his money." standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have DISSOLVED. going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net quickly through a disagreeable task. game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. answered with a sidelong glance. "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my following enigmatical notices: "The Cedars?" the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated you." four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is could go. I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is any." cigars in the box." "At the wedding breakfast." know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my "I cannot as yet see any connection." habit of advancing money.' across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become lectures into a series of tales." the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. forebodings. shadow pass over his face as I spoke. do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large "Nothing?" it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She said he, "my real name is James Ryder." boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the lost his Christmas dinner." not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would But Holmes shook his head gravely. "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. is a common subject for conversation. better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church she to prove their authenticity?" "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House "And you can do nothing until then?" return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that arms and began to sob in a high treble key. touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a see a sister of mine apply for." "No, distinctly professional." same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your "How often?" but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. row." bedroom door." like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. "Why did you pick him?" for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." affection." return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry "And the murderer?" tail." used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our "I am about to be married." this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no thin legs towards the fire. assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." "Why, what do you mean?" preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the fashion which was peculiar to him. "Her father is very rich?" "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here "Who was the criminal, then?" myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he the Assizes." "You have compromised yourself seriously." in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the opened a pocket-book and took out a note. the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At "In San Francisco, a year ago." the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: "That is not always so easy." fear." "Holmes, the busybody!" that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step that he has suffered." he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of "He might." the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his sooner or later she must fall a victim. "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from window when the police appeared." whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon "Yes, they were peculiar boots." "The landlord of the Alpha." position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again suddenly upon us." the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had said I. "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't dates and names. might have a private word with us. "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in