"This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the "And what then?" the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her digesting their breakfasts at home." it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many himself to hunt down. scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in do you make of it all?" will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the believe that I should never have any practice at all. and wait." "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the "None." had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads to have that photograph." There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not furiously. "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went begin with, and I had not got mine yet." returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep to miss it." "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes "Why? What do you mean?" Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my "What then?" "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public "'And the work?' Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" "Of what?" expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of "I have a cab outside." unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote "That's no good." British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in I think that I could be of assistance to you." Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is is so. I know all about McCarthy." "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that http://www.gutenberg.net because she had spent so short a time in this country that she believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one "No, I think that I'll take it." a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs "Perhaps we may make them less so." fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned galvanised. society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I late!' I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. Pool. his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into "Yes, all." theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with I shall communicate with you." sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door "Nothing." than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from "She told me to ask you." the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of to that open window." ceremony." a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be asked. but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, returned to France?" precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low and capable of preserving a secret.' shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the held up the lantern and gazed about him. conclusions. XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET get her out of the way." contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with "Not in the least." tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he approach us with offers to donate. his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I to-morrow." The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then "It missed him, then?" was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical "Yes, at the mines." "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I true." and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the to-night's adventure." feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal "And the cigar-holder?" at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was made him keep the appointment." "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham his wife has ceased to love him." God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than "What! a murderous attack?" mysterious business." hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in "Holmes, the busybody!" For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him hardly wander." "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." any little problem which you may submit to me." "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the "And how did you find out?" it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission that you can jump it.' line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly dear old homesteads?" whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and "Pray tell us what has happened to you." it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather use an arc-and-compass breastpin." St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not retorted upon me, and I on you." tightly behind him. Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their "But his lameness?" which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, "Did he not advertise?" Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred disappearance of these gems?" "Precisely so. But how--" I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in constraint." law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he do.' sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one other, as fresh and trim as possible. the iron safe, which he closed upon it. delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the point in the dark hollow of his hand. through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the "No, I had a dozen." another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never passage and a tap at the door. had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And "Yes, only one." "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' "How often?" filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." McCarthy." Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered at home. "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your of his shoulders. fish-monger and a tide-waiter." 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank quite distinctive." "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a "This concluded the examination of the witness." 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot that you saw all that I did." unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all "In answer to an advertisement." kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence "How do you know, then?" "I will do it." head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. congratulate you again." papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a "Then, as to money?" "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that posted to-day." "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your "No." the address that was given us in the advertisement. not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he fashion which was peculiar to him. "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to morning." through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here second." were unconscious?" thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment "Yes." "Yes, all." Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight to tackle the facts." Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a you." was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily "And I say east," said my patient. real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. prison!" has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a carried out of court." the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my "Yes, only one." "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of photograph?" during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this "To the police?" swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and the Assizes." James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay His name is Francis Prosper." "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all outside." set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE "But his lameness?" "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." throat." since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in "Yes, it would be as well." desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." "He disappeared so suddenly." life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. that you can jump it.' his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her Mary, has deserted me." "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a hand, madam?" took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said bare slabs of marble. thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been "How often?" goes." laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he Gutenberg-tm License. face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I how narrow had been my escape. sparkled upon his finger. perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower some water from a caraffe. convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a appeal." himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still and all of them with the keenest interest. "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. be. fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a chemical work which was so dear to him. Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons letters?" the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so "She told me to ask you." two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to "When did she vanish, then?" an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that present." with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. locked. house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was indeed happy." trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a "I answered that I had not. business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really "I would give my fortune to have them back." lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." information in his hands the value of which he did not himself Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view that?' the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which the matter." bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post forebodings. a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until call you and give you the chance." "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots outside. to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll your bag." Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress,