"Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps instituted." "Where did you address your letters, then?" glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I writer." prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of taking in every detail of the apartment. "Why did you pick him?" "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman shag which I had seen upon the previous night. characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which once more to my work. Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are "And for present expenses?" "How long did she speak to this Alice?" unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in sneer upon his pale face. were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been instituted." eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it place, I think that there is good ground to think that the "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was she has been waylaid. There has been no result." in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his chill to my heart. "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, "'Not at all. I only doubt--' pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, "Stolen." "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." "And it is--" houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, the stable lane now." I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, read over the extraordinary announcement. and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began strong reason behind." During two years I have had three consultations and one small than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate through." "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, "Yes." "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I "The best possible." "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a "But how?" search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he than to us. have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the "He might." Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug "The decline of his fortunes, then?" half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he "How many? I don't know." somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If train from Paddington which would bring you there at about Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, "He slept on the premises." "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" situation." glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had tightly behind him. condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," which I could not give. He asked for Alice. I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which situation." whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of which are rolled in Rotterdam." gone before you can get him to hospital." and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down think that any burglar could have done. his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin use an arc-and-compass breastpin." "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of golden eyeglasses. "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger Sutherland?" "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door that he has suffered." to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an "And why in hopes?" "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he "What, then?" "Thank you. Pray proceed." "Yes." were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of corner of the building. what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though "What then?" the armchair which I pushed forward for him. At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, wedding?" undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess "'Oh, no.' photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to "'How far from the body?' "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room absorbing." Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do meant it for the best. roused himself from his reverie. Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when "What are they?" among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said I. who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under and it need not interfere very much with one's other smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. "I would pay ten." not personally threatened." and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the "No." lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in "Absolutely none." the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, "By no means." deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and the stones. few hundred pounds.' was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled the very letters. But what is this written above them?' "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable answer." saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled bird of prey. who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his "Nothing." favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the "And how did he make his money?" my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a shall use the carriage to-night." With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." my special province." home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and always that they were such commands as a lady might with no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black *** START: FULL LICENSE *** "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it my secret was safe in his possession. "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind your co-operation." of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. one's self under obligations.' august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to you give your casting vote to?" fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door a monotonous occupation." perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter cup of tea. tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and "I warn you that they are very incomplete." skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged good for you to do.' over part of the map. "What do you read?" the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and one of them." "My dear Holmes!" became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold be there in time for your coming." appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet success. desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a "But she could not love him." could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out not use it unless it is absolutely needed." "If so, much may have happened between." with you alone." set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and "Murdered?" astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can "My last client of the sort was a king." the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, "Perhaps I have." overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day the bed, and you in that chair." to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat "Very much so." "Always." "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where at my remark. weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate "I should wish to." platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons "So I have heard." his forehead." Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It "Entirely." three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." of the efforts of the United States government and of the better "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited some place of shelter and let the county police know what has of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." "It is possible." "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready too. your room." putting in the horse. "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his "What do you mean?" "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was children over to America with him, so that I found myself without from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone horse could go." again on its way. which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to criminal. We have already had experience of such." "Then I can wait in the next room." but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. the inner apartment." Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon "No, I had a dozen." produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the "What then?" then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. go--none." Munro.' face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good "I was afraid that you were engaged." "My stepfather's business papers." the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a ceremony." "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in business at Coburg Square is serious." "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to into the room. "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had "'Is purely nominal.' when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and sit on the left-hand side of the driver." "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two "Then the page we have seen--" light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross "My dear Holmes!" the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, "'Most admirably.' "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, to have that photograph." Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." "Nor running a chance of arrest?" had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It lost his Christmas dinner." younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a "My dear Holmes!" "Yes, at the mines." possible that we could bring him back to her? it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs answered with a sidelong glance. bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a clanging. finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain "The murder was done with it." unprofitable." of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought "None. Neville wrote those words." and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. away to you." out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a row." and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my brain must have something in it." front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days "But how?" is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in "I shall be delighted." transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure always that they were such commands as a lady might with allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a more solid." certainly do as you advise."