why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" who was a member of your goose club." money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' infinite languor in his face. "Will you bet, then?" Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to some water from a caraffe. "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in "Do you know him?" "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It "I have come for advice." I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched Munro.' and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his like that before?" doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly one of the states of the Union." it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the what do you think they found in the pockets?" matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must at my own good fortune. to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both "So I heard. You have him here?" that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from "What steps will you take?" I asked. man. chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in he bowed and left the room without another word. increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded even of instruction." really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, "Won't it ring?" held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon footfalls from the street. he died? experiences." - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. absorbing." light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual stammered. forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my "But you have hopes?" to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" directly by questioning you." as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" back into the street. "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes assist you in forming an opinion." waste of energy." "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But papers." clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and "And Miss Sutherland?" "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it skylight. "'Yes, sir.' think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you weigh very heavily upon my conscience." "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of which was all perfectly true. the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be "And what then?" The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating "I am armed." records." in the hope of finding them." "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's ashen face. others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' already referred to. and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a horse could go." wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in you understand?" swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of "Thank you. And your address?" there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot a very grave face. framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton fled together." "How long did she speak to this Alice?" "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest Pope's Court, Fleet Street." I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and power." feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging "Did you become engaged then?" disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't coroner's jury." the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler my little problems." circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst other means.' classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly three fields round his house, and there he would take his the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, point in the dark hollow of his hand. started for the Temple to see my husband. afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was "Tired-looking or fresh?" to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker seven miles from Eyford Station.' or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. not come at once?" copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed "You saw the ventilator, too?" Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project there was no need for father to know." prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a dates and names. passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. something of him before." pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of delighted to hear it," he said. hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the see me here to avoid scandal." "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the union?" most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy "But how will you look?" which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my "Certainly." "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a front of the hall door has given its name to the place. intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one them?" "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is this man was intellectual?" "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I "But how?" saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then crackling voice. brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done taking in every detail of the apartment. who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, article?" the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." "You horrify me." through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the guilty one." I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of "I am to be neutral?" Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and the little opening for the ventilator is." light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, ready to-morrow?' lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see have got?" and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to be best to do. will be renamed. find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every "Stolen, then." "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the to-night's adventure." hereditary King of Bohemia." schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this what these perils are?" "Certainly." been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three conceal it?" "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle meanly of me." metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point "'Is purely nominal.' "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices "You will not go there first?" saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that "'Very good.' signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My "I will not look." though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to the stable lane now." fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no was once confined in the cab my mission was practically actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery "You think that he is dead?" "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but leaning back in his chair. either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" enter Dr. Roylott's room." sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing a very grave face. bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An not interfere, come what may. You understand?" Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria outbreak?" conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a bonnet, and went out." And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of License. You must require such a user to return or her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until the address that was given us in the advertisement. look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his "What have you to say now?" right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign you." seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him "By no means." "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The his face which made him a very different person to the round, compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to that I may have something better before very many minutes are A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no breakfast and whispered something to her husband. bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." "I am to be neutral?" a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the particular state visit http://pglaf.org sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He "Has he come with you to-night?" absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking "You have it, sir, just as it happened." crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." see me here to avoid scandal." here." "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the putting in the horse. his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she wedding?" me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve the coronet in his hand?" am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that "'Never,' said I. other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen said he at last. must compliment you." have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and place of silver." question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so towards the blaze. game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend "Pray do so." when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father "Your French gold?" obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. vanished into the darkness. "Not in a good cause." once more for Briony Lodge. gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack "In which, sir?" who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this