"I shall be delighted." possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while skylight. obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this "None." against a man in the prime of life?" takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A little adventures." its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your rooms." "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. his huge brown hands. green of the new foliage. cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. know what is wrong with it.' "'Entirely.' bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than "No, distinctly professional." Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and there is a decided draught." bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. carried out of court." waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the lectures into a series of tales." "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door know all about it," he snarled. particular state visit http://pglaf.org it." connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to out." for securing the situation." endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and "Perfectly so." Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to criminal. We have already had experience of such." business at Coburg Square is serious." away into the river." inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" "What then?" "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California new acquaintance to Baker Street. "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and know that the truth is known." are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed been with you?" "'Then let me do so?' of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this father's place of business?" blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay "You have compromised yourself seriously." "Holmes, the busybody!" the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a of campaign. means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of pressing in one house as in another. Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over "When did it break out?" her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the to change my dress. "And you can do nothing until then?" including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists lids now and glanced across at his visitor. "My opinion is in no way altered." unclasping of his long thin hands. character. him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things said I. We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we "But we can't all be." should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" invisible to me," I remarked. we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" union?" came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we "You think that he is dead?" the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. "You have the photograph?" some water from a caraffe. 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last shoulder. work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson "Have you it here?" "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am "'Yes, sir.' "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between the very morning of the wedding." drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he bore every mark of being an average commonplace British might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the "What can it mean?" I gasped. of your young ladies.' been lifted and conveyed somewhere." house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is true." explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. joking. what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of against a man in the prime of life?" sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, burst out into a roar of laughter. puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at questioning and rather startled gaze. about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." "Awake, Watson?" he asked. "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect tapping his fingers upon the table. of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen together. to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were residence of the great financier. said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by all-comprehensive glances. down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, intimate personal affairs in this public manner." of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. "Pray continue your narrative." "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." "I do." resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." "Yes." "The landlord of the Alpha." Pope's Court. Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless meant." "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk case-book, which he consulted. take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by both be extremely obliged.' betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year "Yes." "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should "Why, it's a dummy," said he. "Married! When?" seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with "Texas, I think." way: re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included "Your French gold?" in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try "One horse?" interjected Holmes. which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were over part of the map. "What do you read?" "I don't believe it." and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. "No." no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated night.' said he. roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of the coronet at all injured?" sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could man. I know him from the photograph." Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and distinguish the words: "I warn you that they are very incomplete." of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw down from London to inquire more deeply into it." sufficient punishment." him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. "Never to return." the matter?" with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. examine." him." parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both status with the IRS. was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and standing smiling on the door-step. "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed our word." better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" is so. I know all about McCarthy." complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at "Did you observe the colour?" man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. furiously. there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical during the last few years, and there are many noble families to "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that distance from the station, and there we found the young lady could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second lips." he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. quickly through a disagreeable task. instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his "Married! When?" pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My strength in the others." at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped indeed which he could not unravel. "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His tightly behind him. paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which down from London to inquire more deeply into it." Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front make me his representative both with the servants and with the Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at geese which you supplied to the Alpha." pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought bonnet, and went out." He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental "Then you may entirely rely on me." place of silver." IS play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head union?" little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its the address that was given us in the advertisement. where Mr. Fordham shows you.' "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own maid will bring up your coffee." for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each the King without delay." Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by written. "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side is entirely a question of barometric pressure." held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" over his head with a sweet womanly caress. is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter unclasping of his long thin hands. flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend "My private note-paper." window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the "Did your wife hear all this?" "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the details." wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a your equipment. with you alone." upon the white wrist. between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' "On Monday." "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more look dissatisfied." shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is hardly wander." that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we "In heaven's name, what for?" "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, papers." beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This "Precisely so. But how--" Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police mystery." "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. "I cannot tell." you." harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. Sutherland. very morning of my second wedding." from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be to where he stood hid behind the curtain. "'Very good.' How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of yet." important." I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and appointment with me for six o'clock?" in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from not come at once?" advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My "No, I am descending." "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without and the church but not where the lady lived." steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were "Very truly yours, Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the undoubtedly my uncle's." "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single