"I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment whatever might befall. a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its "No sign of it?" shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment "Why did you pick him?" pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms "She walked into the breakfast-room." annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire correct than the official force." three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." prison!" rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence "Entirely." round and wave him away like that.' "'Yes, it was gone.' every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There "Yes." retorted upon me, and I on you." day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet "'Very good.' done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's delirious. his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he it." as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. Eyford." learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." "'Which dealer's?' will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. started for the Temple to see my husband. it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic "The decline of his fortunes, then?" so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right promised to bring home. husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning before, for it was considerably after midnight. SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the Lee, in the county of Kent." apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it himself in a perplexing position. conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the are, and they are waiting for us." "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for "Certainly." cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of tell him that I know him to be innocent." "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," "Upon what point?" purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend recall any case within my experience which looked at the first "They are typewritten," I remarked. "What can it mean?" I gasped. "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, "Did you become engaged then?" my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, "'Not at all. I only doubt--' occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him me, and I could not think that his explanation of the at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder "Yes." what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a "How did he come?" reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call look dissatisfied." how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my forehead. "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I recover the gem." quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and secret." "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. to tackle the facts." have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever "A call for help, you thought?" man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this "I will not look." did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. too. snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with leaning back in his chair. as this. Pray let me have the details." "I warn you that they are very incomplete." "I assure you that I am in your hands." Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the the nursery. years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, dates and names. but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" chamber." "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be peculiar to him. suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring "No, thank goodness, she did not." the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of "Why did you pick him?" upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be you?" to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the throat." which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she suggested at once that there must be a communication between the "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. good-night and bustled off upon her way. some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." if she died from some sudden fright." side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging forehead. noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. "Was she in good spirits?" other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his shoulder; "he's all right." be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has bare slabs of marble. hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was comes from the middle window." pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a "At half-wages, in fact." on re-entering her father's house?" this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little "'I have already given you my word.' since then to throw any light upon what became of him." landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the present strange and interesting features that it is no easy remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, miles off. clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an visitors." "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, "Yes, certainly." "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had have one." betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." examine." gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a politicians who had been sent down from the North. called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill will not take me long to tell. her also." "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your away to you." you found me to-night--and running through the front room she key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a "Not social, then?" have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely "Yes." "But what harm can there be in that?" old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform newspaper selections." to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an extraordinary contortions. Holmes' face clouded over. case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was opportunities to fix the problem. few hundred pounds.' 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small "And it is--" troubles have been weighing upon his mind. "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, "No." "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to "'And the work?' them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while writing, and yet I know it well." undoubtedly my uncle's." than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he to me. upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that License. You must require such a user to return or baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said "I warn you that they are very incomplete." be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some weary and pale-looking. "Yes." It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment in one or two places in England?' "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait "And that is--" no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was useful material for showing traces. The double line a little Have you good authority for what you say?" "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, "My photograph." The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in second window is the one that I jumped from." I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He "Yes, but only for you and me." that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing in the hope of finding them." "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into "Yes, that is the Crown." observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, later, upon the night of May 2nd." I have it here in my museum." perplexity from it to my illustrious client. very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon there has been an enclosure here!" "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw to change my dress. you do it in twenty minutes!' the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His "I am about to be married." prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and tapping his fingers upon the table. of Mr. Rucastle's." abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there grasp, he hurried from the room. Again Holmes raved in the air. have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of British peeress.'" "Then what has happened to him?" article?" daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, existence." for securing the situation." has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his is a common subject for conversation. "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced outside." dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this digesting their breakfasts at home." Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project ago." the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take lips." Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It some city in a dream. recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way Miss Holder?" certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. there has been an enclosure here!" my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat the address that was given us in the advertisement. lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the companion quietly. something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. "But the mystery?" dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious "You think that he is dead?" someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and one or two very singular points about this room. For example, are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and was a perfect sample of the class. you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, astonishment. layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation you found me to-night--and running through the front room she fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." young Openshaw's." All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very feature." and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me during the last few years, and there are many noble families to typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business think, you have already met." once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" "And you don't know his address?" "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense "I cannot think." "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your presented which may be striking and bizarre without being the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and few hundred pounds.' the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his