"You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind the King without delay." things are very often connected not with the larger but with the that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's them, and came down just as you departed. would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and get the tickets." "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he "I shall be delighted." immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one here and I will read it to you: about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than troubles have been weighing upon his mind. bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable this Miss Turner." open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, open." "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into dead, shall be safe with us." the bottom.' Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting locked. all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those him. lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates "It is his hat." when you have done it." "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner in the port of London." waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I should be so warm over such a trifle." probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of business." which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of bled considerably." both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no "Where, then?" whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are to some other building. upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect you in your example." I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an conclusions. his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel was a lad." another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking the armchair which I pushed forward for him. of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." "'Not at all. I only doubt--' walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One other lovers by making love himself." you." eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but closely." what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' likely to be some crony of the landlady's." They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty "When did she vanish, then?" "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you "But how?" "But what will you do?" into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a "VIOLET HUNTER." from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his "Nothing." "On the contrary, this is the right side." people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet interest. They are important, you understand, without being to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the without a word or a look. suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us made him keep the appointment." them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it events, Mr. Windibank!" "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you head. So long, then!" became a certainty. peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have "The Coroner: What do you mean? seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: address. His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I "'Certainly not. But why?' and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "9th. McCauley cleared. held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other Serpentine Avenue. "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that him and tried to hold him back. tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much this Miss Turner." "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I fled together." "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." chemical work which was so dear to him. "In what way?" asked Holmes. "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not "I assure you that I am in your hands." "And from a noble client?" place of silver." focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with questioning and rather startled gaze. "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, back into the street. Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" "'No, I know no one in these parts.' pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the page at http://pglaf.org Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much late!' Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little Cross for the Continent." without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a of campaign. began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few public press." and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as sparkled upon his finger. It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass the Friday. Was it to be in church?" "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." I shall continue with my miserable story. be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." into the bag, and made for the door. their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and to change my dress. "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not "Never to return." "In what way?" asked Holmes. "What is it, then--a fire?" feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; comes from the middle window." "Pray do so." there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all flock.' This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall Pope's Court. tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." "10th. John Swain cleared. the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his "Well, some hundreds of times." "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a with her." were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic dramatic, in fact." brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could Heh?' your own bird, so if you wish--" from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and "How many? I don't know." Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but orange pips. "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent "But we can't all be." "I don't say that. Perhaps." heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, of your young ladies.' "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for evidence," I remarked. remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the "We must have a cab." that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my already been minutely examined." the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." this Miss Turner." "I fear not." from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those cause to be." association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the "What do you mean?" whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is "'Which dealer's?' objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her the warnings." my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was voice, changing her seat as requested. not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my bears upon the case?" rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been way: a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too "Then you may be so with me." "But to whom?" "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I me what he had done with the three missing stones. are windows in it, of course?" "Awake, Watson?" he asked. and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up kind enough to tell me what I should do." "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in four million human beings all jostling each other within the room. through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't It was close upon four before the door opened, and a while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered the ceiling. became a certainty. to where he stood hid behind the curtain. the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. straightened it out again. a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with of this gang." "Then I do not see the point." are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical wedding?" "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as subject to the trademark license, especially commercial that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but redistribution. like that before?" not, dad?" she asked. of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that have been better. It is all right." day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, "And how?" shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of "10th. John Swain cleared. would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they "You saw the ventilator, too?" "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. "Did you become engaged then?" from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not "'Stolen!' he cried. the very morning of the wedding." my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and away in different directions, and I went off to make my own Holmes' thin, eager face. Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, "I have seen the police." copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all "Of what?" had picked up in the wood. "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my "And is that all?" woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez will be renamed. Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, James Windibank. Voilà tout!" a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally me. "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." works. See paragraph 1.E below. green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I morning." "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he "When did it break out?" "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their hands. his grey eyes. "And the cigar-holder?" and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of "Come in!" said he. of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon likely to be some crony of the landlady's." would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." "I do." place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my go from here to the Strand." I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. "What! a murderous attack?" plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he answer." with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and a little more before I quite committed myself. "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! weapon." "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers "Quite so."