some mystery and the punishment of some crime." front of the hall door has given its name to the place. "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to "No legal papers or certificates?" "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. him to be an active member of the medical profession." his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained over part of the map. "What do you read?" his knees, staring into the fire. only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would "It looks newer than the other things?" seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I off." "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his you." provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so present." "'A dozen yards or so.' salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. "What then?" ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. my special province." alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, better grown goose." liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" in one or two places in England?' "My Mary? Impossible!" "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and questionable one." "It is his hat." observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between papers on the sundial.'" "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little writer." "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I John Swain, of St. Augustine. small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others "The vanishing of the lady." lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him "It is solved." also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear putting in the horse. bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the unclasping of his long thin hands. such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came own family. James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, are, I think, all that we need." acquaintance?" star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were "Breckinridge is his name." me where it went to?" "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his which I could not give. He asked for Alice. we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" country, and eventually married, without anyone having a have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem "And Miss Sutherland?" impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven the Friday. Was it to be in church?" his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love point in the dark hollow of his hand. "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he galvanised. and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in cup of tea. ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms your most interesting statement." in this way: caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did "Why serious?" light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed ways of our fellow-men." one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. "Yes." went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know gone before you can get him to hospital." "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," carpenter." process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the bill, which interests me deeply." spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that never will be, entirely cleared up. set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any it. Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you "ARAT," I read. "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See "Witness: Nothing definite. sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: "And it is--" not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington letters?" "Yes, they were peculiar boots." making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us conclusions. of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss "Was she in good spirits?" status with the IRS. collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just appeal." Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened made him keep the appointment." a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was of Mr. Rucastle's." my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are works. "Very truly yours, "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first three of the beryls in it, was missing. its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but were unconscious?" She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what you understand?" your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from from the brougham. very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, my room." lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on "Married! When?" Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours call it cruel." stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley "There is the writing." carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and noble correspondent could be. "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the "On the contrary, this is the right side." of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, "At what time?" demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in the iron safe, which he closed upon it. slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one The King stared at him in amazement. august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same tassel actually lying upon the pillow. never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier "And how in the world did you find them?" "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that cost them two and thirty pounds." Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." arrested. You then--" "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. little trying to do so much typewriting?" attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the "And sit in the dark?" child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the so far?" opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. was it brought him the coronet? upon the white wrist. "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business cigars in their mouths. volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for "No, I had a dozen." "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my affair. upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is nonsense.' of the efforts of the United States government and of the better delighted to hear it," he said. "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will nonsense.' "Well." my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are "I promise," said Holmes. door?" by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such and have this put in the evening papers." him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and you in your example." hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the helping a boy to put up the shutters. with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good him, that man would not have given me such complete information "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace asked. to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of fled together." "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small Literary Archive Foundation mysterious end." "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most tail." jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news "Yesterday." fat-encircled eyes. recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" light and attacked it." sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could him nearly every evening." "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" that before taking the final step I should like to submit the weighed down with some great anxiety. I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. the matter." the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now "We were both in the photograph." "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide "So I have heard." "The Coroner: What do you mean? dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." "And I say east," said my patient. have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the "Where did you address your letters, then?" "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. true." I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl what is your own theory as to what took place?" in the dead of the night?' "That is unusual in a young girl." Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? "My dear Holmes!" exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry "Yes." 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, foresight and the moral retrogression?" and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By place, I think that there is good ground to think that the indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from For additional contact information: "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind fatally injured? "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out meanly of me." top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master "But you were on a friendly footing?" departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed "Yes." "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some "And I say east," said my patient. reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might it." years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich any more." Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face "But the mystery?" "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the this truth that in these little records of our cases which you chamber." "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" soul! here is her carriage at the door." their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I bore every mark of being an average commonplace British perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring of Mr. Rucastle's." "And how did he make his money?" "You have compromised yourself seriously." right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. "Yes, it would be as well." photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are is a common subject for conversation. "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study fatally injured? zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself hardly wander." "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the Sutherland?" me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my "You have a clue?" that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he "Perhaps we may make them less so." "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of been." we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one on in his house." the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which girl said." brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., along the entire front of the house, with three long windows round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. not interfere, come what may. You understand?" a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked "She will not sell." excitement. hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with crime. are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport Henry Baker is a member." back to my heart. slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against