all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to vague figure huddled up in the darkness. know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with ready to-morrow?' upon the shelf for the interim." "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that cup of tea. long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, "Seven!" I answered. by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length of your young ladies.' to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would letters?" slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming only touch the interest." never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped will be renamed. "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your "And did you observe any change in her then?" "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no pound a week." clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, awkward doing business with an alias." feature." "It must be recovered." job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, the salesman. yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of be there in time for your coming." would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such gone. "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce main points of my analysis." "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its affection." the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming present." "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency colour had been driven from his face. "No bad?" "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands it right.' likely to be some crony of the landlady's." know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress a monotonous occupation." returning from some small jollification and was making his way "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but "No bad?" fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment evidence," I remarked. any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was or in danger--" more terrible than the truth. "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid 'I should be able to look after that for you.' out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a of the vacancies.' which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached dead, shall be safe with us." "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity "And what did you learn from him?" I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. residence of the great financier. 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then best detective that ever lived. the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming "I never have." "Pray tell us what has happened to you." dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were means taking possession of that which another person has a prior skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw "And your mother is alive?" through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." to affect your life." was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, persecution?" of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake "Will you go?" generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? gbnewby@pglaf.org destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles any little problem which you may submit to me." 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is through." "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of not use it unless it is absolutely needed." assist you in forming an opinion." then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited down from London to inquire more deeply into it." very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." to have that photograph." the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" "'Yes, sir.' "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was next day. but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I all that?" King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder "By train from Waterloo." that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To "They are typewritten," I remarked. story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are "My stepfather's business papers." headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the right! Sit down and let us talk it over." she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this indeed happy." o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a "Do you know him?" do." was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. burst out into a roar of laughter. have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very "What then?" league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists "I cannot say that I have." withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, arrangements." morning." go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six "But how?" worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the see a sister of mine apply for." collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. Pope's Court, Fleet Street." long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly 1.F. knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the sufficient punishment." unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. once more on the important position which you have been fortunate them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had "Yes." immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really "Always." finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to our word." puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down confronted him. little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever "Yes, at the mines." "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that sofa. This way, please!" have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, if only as a check to my own memory." age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident second window is the one that I jumped from." smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the and glanced through. "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real chair. and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was which I could not give. He asked for Alice. bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the "But what will you do?" innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect be best to do. Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave other means.' strength of mind to control. floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or visitors." I was concerned in it." intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his "Yes." "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very my room." "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's have accepted such a situation. tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if himself. Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some of this gang." been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." "A thing like a cleaver," said he. "About a month then." question," said Holmes, smiling. "And how did you verify them?" work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & "Very truly yours, "Always." livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman someone who had been in Australia." of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about "'Entirely.' against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." fluttered off among the others. "I have a cab outside." clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My "Two days later this same performance was gone through under window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, "Your presence might be invaluable." husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had "I answered that I had not. A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about emerged. this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he useful material for showing traces. The double line a little back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so one of them." lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; "I warn you that they are very incomplete." to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry test if we have an answer to our advertisement." "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of "I see no marks." it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest useful material for showing traces. The double line a little "What?" the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he little adventures." hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. "'Ten to two.' Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." own family. has little to do with my story." "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. Foundation Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, better in every way that they should make their position a little "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did "That was it, sir." "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which this man was intellectual?" "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them seen the man in the road." felt the room to be a little close.' the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was and glanced through. pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he washing it down with a long draught of water. might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's amused." "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and "And sit in the dark?" "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so to Leatherhead. how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." What do you deduce from it?" "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots "Yes, from Horsham." gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you pictures, libraries, or plate. the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that business matters.' thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at "Then I am your man." broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few "And leave your case unfinished?" so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. tail." "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door I approached. suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from could not account in any way for the presence of the missing client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem