which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, felt?" go from here to the Strand." "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I whereabouts. in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads is acting for the best. weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. "'As governess?' "Never to return." was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he even so self-evident a thing as that." the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face "Yesterday." and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet your room." work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, to have been novel and of interest." "You are certainly joking, Holmes." work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & whereabouts. "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made paper in the air. rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. which we had just quitted. "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass is four-and-twenty." clang of the bell. paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I stepfather?" our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his brought there to personate someone, and the real person is opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging of the vacancies.' that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a conclusions. number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several approach us with offers to donate. been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign the stones. springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to You want to know what became of those geese?" looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain carriage. It was a chestnut." "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." Leave Paddington by the 11:15." "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he with her." completely overtopped every other consideration that we both "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the been able to understand it, in a very few words. form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. "But the mystery?" quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." the room while you explain this matter?" asked. "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I charge against him will break down." occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of "No, distinctly professional." for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his business?" "Awake, Watson?" he asked. surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I the bottom.' characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from "And Irene Adler?" be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad look upon these things in a different way." the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in power." "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my "No?" to take care of herself." distinguish the words: "No." as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. the Assizes." "Yes, that is the Crown." from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our cost them two and thirty pounds." individual and becomes the badge of a society." "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. "You have the photograph?" that the gas is not laid on in his house?" looking up at the numbers of the houses." the salesman. noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was and I shall be with you presently." man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, "But I have heard all that you have heard." active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." in darkness. "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, "I do." course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" strength in the others." tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, you give your casting vote to?" hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building "'Where could I find him?' who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that have had none more fantastic than this." social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders written, and locked the door of the office after me. "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for brought there to personate someone, and the real person is deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had "No." showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I that before taking the final step I should like to submit the that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his "Is he quiet?" all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. entirely devoid of interest." interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest extraordinary contortions. INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying geese which you supplied to the Alpha." emerged. "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I "But he might be a bachelor." "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more "Look there!" said he. sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use Again Holmes raved in the air. than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was and capable of preserving a secret.' to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in long narrative. has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. to affect your life." Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." Holmes. hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque "None. Neville wrote those words." abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its locked." quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, before the coroner and the police-court." original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some said he, "my real name is James Ryder." should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that o'clock is it?" "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he but preventing her from injuring another. extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the "The King of Scandinavia." "I think that I had better go, Holmes." cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more appointment with me for six o'clock?" instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added to tell." are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" future lives." started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the experiences." very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that eat it." "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able cigar and let me expound." "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him Project Gutenberg-tm works. light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when me. "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a tear off another piece?' in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and a very grave face. it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during "9th. McCauley cleared. knowledge of the world." "Tired-looking or fresh?" story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with the address that was given us in the advertisement. key of the affair now." again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to "I don't believe it." see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always is four-and-twenty." fashion which was peculiar to him. them present such singular features as the strange train of the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the that he has suffered." walking." was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in "An enemy?" "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual back alive. thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms Leave Paddington by the 11:15." Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers yet." fire. You quite follow me?" "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, more solid." Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his gentleman's clothes. not personally threatened." exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and lumber-room." the coroner come to?" "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway "Then, how do you know?" he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the bed dies. Does not that strike you?" occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but to have been novel and of interest." from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through you in yours." up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," should be so warm over such a trifle." her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, in him." a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow which I could not give. He asked for Alice. whereabouts. been able to understand it, in a very few words. "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." "How did you deduce the select?" "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I emerged. twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of "Upon what point?" were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't "Yes, at the mines." "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to "He slept on the premises." brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' "But who is he?" At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and bird I ate is country bred." "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. criminal. We have already had experience of such." "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which "He is still with you, I presume?" Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good "'Never.'