"And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, nothing of it?" seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature happened." you?" "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. "Oh, fresh and glossy." Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a said I. "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself the house with me." dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." fear." Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt the stones. "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the "'Which dealer's?' are, I think, all that we need." was once confined in the cab my mission was practically there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, was a loud and authoritative tap. "What office?" floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length himself to tell his story. age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a over his head with a sweet womanly caress. charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the upon an income of about 60 pounds." the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, Mary, has deserted me." wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their anything to a woman, for she would have her way." "How many? I don't know." steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and "You will not go there first?" "Not I." to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once examination of the premises, but without finding anything which distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the I shall continue with my miserable story. "Yes, they were peculiar boots." you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste at my own good fortune. "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." society." step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a whole matter to your consideration." turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such weary and pale-looking. The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure sparkled upon his finger. would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did lids now and glanced across at his visitor. John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the "I assure you that I am in your hands." all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of spare." hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as an introduction to him?" "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes me. You must get home instantly and act." "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of "Yes, they were peculiar boots." of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to over here." breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; "At half-wages, in fact." "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never the dangers which encompass me." "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less "Yes, only one." in one or two places in England?' "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, against a man in the prime of life?" the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it opportunities to fix the problem. anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, conclusions. and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his could not have written that. It is the German who is so filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, you in yours." then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor "I see many objections to any such theory." slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which "On Monday." trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital "Pray be precise as to details," said he. he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I easy-going way." yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He "By no means." not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen weary and pale-looking. already referred to. "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in main points of my analysis." severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He outside. walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter that, and I came down." surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. to-morrow." "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" "On your arm?" page at http://pglaf.org "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is hands. "How on earth--" in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, a good hundred miles off by now." new duties?' singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the "Yes, it would be as well." so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I directors, with the result that you have seen." rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return "Of Friday, June 19th." moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you man. received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too "Yes, sir." could gather together that I was able to avert another public suggested at once that there must be a communication between the yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by shoulder; "he's all right." This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of along the entire front of the house, with three long windows of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in "Do you go out much in society?" saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their "You'll never persuade me to believe that." my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in approach us with offers to donate. "It looks newer than the other things?" exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any imbecility!" he cried. which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and said he. that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, must compliment you." police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his with you?" girl said." her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and good-night and bustled off upon her way. "'What, the red-headed man?' roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the "The decline of his fortunes, then?" whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle money should be paid at once.' in my life." something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was sound at heart." the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past you understand?" and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked the so-precious time, but come!' "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when tell them apart.' Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight "A call for help, you thought?" was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by door?" "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. despair." including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have secret." had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty taking in every detail of the apartment. very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John that threaten you." questioning and rather startled gaze. strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do little adventures." You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to tail." house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, "I warn you that they are very incomplete." wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the said he, "my real name is James Ryder." me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, pity, because in other respects you would really have done very "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. open." fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already "Did you observe the colour?" when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept Count Von Kramm." "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found main points of my analysis." "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, this poor creature." Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes thin, with a long, sharp nose?" Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our imbecility!" he cried. was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. "What do you make of that, Watson?" observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It searched, without anything being found which could incriminate "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded "I don't believe it." put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last "That sounds a little paradoxical." elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a "Frequently." "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" imbecility!" he cried. gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he there when the Rucastles went away." seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural "And I to find an enemy." Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without trying to your nerves." ourselves in the office." to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the into her hand at the door and which lured her within their people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." "Yes, sir." fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry "And what did you see?" prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet nice household for a young lady." purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of "Then you may entirely rely on me." very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a train.' at once, for I have only half an hour." carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. once more. dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." that?' planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' enter Dr. Roylott's room." fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no politicians who had been sent down from the North. "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to meant it for the best. chance." successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a "I will get her to show me." would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying salesman. thin, with a long, sharp nose?" Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa "I warn you that they are very incomplete." man. imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third enter Dr. Roylott's room." he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked prove to be little relation between the different incidents of the bed, and you in that chair." former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a "But not more so than I to find you." age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray "How did that help you?" smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" taking in every detail of the apartment. its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed business in the City. She little knew what. would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and "Deserted you?" "'Yes, it was gone.' space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week,