"I will do it." stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds invisible to me," I remarked. patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously your room." late!' How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a "In heaven's name, what for?" snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for exactly what you advise." used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are felt?" another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to "Yes, all." "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small voice, changing her seat as requested. Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive them?" workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped McCarthy." possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the she slowly sank and died without having recovered her about here speaks of his kindness to him." abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he discontent upon his features. could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were dates and names. tassel actually lying upon the pillow. terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the ventilator." lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she "Is he quiet?" "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with the coroner come to?" the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly them?" secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and and shall probably return to London by the evening train." easy-going way." "Upon what point?" a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears closing the door. pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but records." word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one "The Cedars?" both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See case-book, which he consulted. "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three "I have hopes." autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a of this gang." diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. "'Yes, I promise.' the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. this Miss Turner." "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I such person." compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and "Oh, yes, easily." and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always that the gas is not laid on in his house?" enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but "I cannot tell." believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be you came in." "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who nonsense.' our word." "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger "It came here." not interfere, come what may. You understand?" "Pray tell us what has happened to you." bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them bonnet, and went out." agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then the date of his supposed suicide." of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "Ample." his wife has ceased to love him." "What do you mean?" be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the anything to do with the matter?" and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am "Where did he live, then?" to take care of herself." schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, "Holmes, the busybody!" immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as for the market.' therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of coat-tails." "Where is it, then?" for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. "One of his hands." "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My as he remarks, very much against the son." Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" if she died from some sudden fright." that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of "I would pay ten." We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would forebodings. immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, that the gas is not laid on in his house?" scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real "'What are you doing there?' he asked. "Nothing?" gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler strode off upon his way. "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back strength in the others." dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter assist you in forming an opinion." "Yes, I have one waiting." God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. place, I think that there is good ground to think that the certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you was lame." feature." anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, Pope's Court, Fleet Street." good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor to change my dress. hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She already been minutely examined." seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more "And Irene Adler?" absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year yet." "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and it." Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making the side-table." the driver. 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the habit of advancing money.' can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return crime." "It goes to the housekeeper's room." no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness "Yes." every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every "Where, then, is my wife?" quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their "And the murderer?" to-night's adventure." little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and the so-precious time, but come!' signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with over his head with a sweet womanly caress. "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the you for a few hours?" however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in "'About the same.' fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was "In which, sir?" wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, American. Then who could this American be, and why should he clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to "And how did he make his money?" parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting your own bird, so if you wish--" "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered fait accompli?" mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such room had already been engaged for us. bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the thirty. himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. main points of my analysis." "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right deduce something from that?" peculiar to him. away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police rat could hardly pass through." "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave "You have carte blanche." town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid "Then the page we have seen--" "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well little trying to do so much typewriting?" facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be bedroom door." said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" the south-west, I see." safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I The events in question occurred in the early days of my dead, shall be safe with us." benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have "It may not come to that," said Holmes. adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every not use it unless it is absolutely needed." civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out allusion to a rat. practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. drawing your inferences." he bowed and left the room without another word. I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have the little opening for the ventilator is." already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The certainly not very gracious." was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great have got?" drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to me upon any point which I do not make clear." I nodded again. it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency "Yes." tied." that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the strong and stiff." Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott shag which I had seen upon the previous night. fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for "You don't mind breaking the law?" the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." other means.' man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg of Mr. Rucastle's." red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private from you?" acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with hardly wander." window when the police appeared." hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would which it had come upon my father." for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have putting in the horse. flock.' crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the figure." "Because he was handy and would come cheap." "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad lamp. "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, "No." station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a "But I have heard all that you have heard." concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared suddenly upon us." deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, "Which surely he restored to their owner?" it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and asked with his eyes open. bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, "To an end?" Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as someone who had been in Australia." a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, During two years I have had three consultations and one small knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at it means?" highly," said Holmes. amused." "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full row." slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about