pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary "Stolen, then." back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call correct than the official force." "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly "Witness: I must still refuse. They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." way in everything. "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call What do you deduce from it?" "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since rat could hardly pass through." "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his "Of Friday, June 19th." "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle the room while you explain this matter?" "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and who was a member of your goose club." was shining brightly. He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with "And now?" I asked. may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was unclasping of his long thin hands. my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the "The Coroner: What do you mean? used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands front of the hall door has given its name to the place. breakfast?" the child." hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another laugh and put his lips to my ear. the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery written, and locked the door of the office after me. to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be money should be paid at once.' never to learn it at all." the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of "Then, how do you know?" notes," he said. "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been "Yes." It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated awaited us upon the table. that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not "And did you observe any change in her then?" "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, union?" Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, keep the flames under. we went to search for him, face downward in a little to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up "Which surely he restored to their owner?" introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the there were one or two details which were new to me. But the his cane at the bell-pull. therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. "So I have heard." bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying "Eh? What was that?" had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to sparkled upon his finger. his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had there." "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the "My photograph." "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her "No, but the enclosure is." controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the troubles have been weighing upon his mind. betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." mystery." evidence," I remarked. "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced spark where all is dark to me." "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. "Yes, it would be as well." "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my it. Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of "One of the highest in England." stepfather?" there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the shadow pass over his face as I spoke. over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he round and wave him away like that.' "Really! You surprise me." when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." "Then you may entirely rely on me." inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue thirty. "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" "This concluded the examination of the witness." all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to I nodded again. to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and "Ten will be early enough." note?" They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the had this final quarrel? a very grave face. vault. "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful and that he would see to anything that turned up. "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there could not account in any way for the presence of the missing "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be "I will try. What is it?" collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, like gravel from a pit.' is worth.' "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of was not a bird to be seen there. "Pray do so." very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I their singular warning or token before them when starting upon bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it unclasping of his long thin hands. daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not "No, I am descending." started for the Temple to see my husband. cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel "It is half-past ten now." of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone silent! Oh, he will be silent!' extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. fear." him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his himself to tell his story. moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. all?" however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope the inner apartment." "Certainly." warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on to surprise her." shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. public press." ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You wife's character?" carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps must compliment you." Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the legal crime." "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the ago." of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it the inquest, and which are worth considering." had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the "Ten will be early enough." a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round Sutherland?" he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A in my life." gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and cigars in their mouths. wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself "One horse?" interjected Holmes. While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of The summons was a brief and urgent one. "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled "Well, it is a possible supposition." Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may matter over." Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a "And what then?" she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, time." Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies "It's nothing of the kind." foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, kindly on the shoulder. can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at "I do." although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could bell. Holmes whistled. to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting "It may not come to that," said Holmes. something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey three of the beryls in it, was missing. "But what harm can there be in that?" "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the interested in these little problems, and since you are good but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the client, rising. suddenly upon us." note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed gbnewby@pglaf.org "If so, much may have happened between." "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three "To the police?" active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his nights." in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his during the last few years, and there are many noble families to is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent "You have the photograph?" "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of directors, with the result that you have seen." be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are the nursery. "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any rose-bushes. Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have down from London to inquire more deeply into it." leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with ceremony." the roots. We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. showing my impatience. now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his "What is it, then--a fire?" hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but "Yes, certainly." "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he where we are going." suggested at once that there must be a communication between the dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps "'How far from the body?' present." their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant better in every way that they should make their position a little I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a showing my impatience. About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray said Mr. Holder. third from London." "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than if only as a check to my own memory." very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert "On your arm?" distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in "On your arm?" who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his "I saw her in conversation with her maid." said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six any more." We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is to surprise her." fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she any more." "I promise," said Holmes. "'And what are they worth?' I asked. other means.' and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day will not take me long to tell. chair. come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." least a fellow-countryman. little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the fire. You quite follow me?" playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A distinguish the words: the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there him nearly every evening." of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good to a more successful conclusion." cost them two and thirty pounds." searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the "How did that help you?" conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the is entirely a question of barometric pressure." once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong I nodded again. "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through furiously. knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure little trying to do so much typewriting?" stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother room had already been engaged for us. "When did she vanish, then?" "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of think that he is innocent?" cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was "What!" he roared. upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the "Did your wife hear all this?" set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece