public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a me, and I could not think that his explanation of the "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock salesman. civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. beg that you will break it off." down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am pierced for earrings?" Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, "And what then?" "Nothing." hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his secret." without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. in my life." "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of burst into a hearty fit of laughter. "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored of it with the greatest attention. another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so "Game for a morning drive?" "We were both in the photograph." "'Stolen!' he cried. had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." to that open window." in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon "This concluded the examination of the witness." breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" into the room. there were one or two details which were new to me. But the abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up "There is the writing." would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural least a most suspicious remark." upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped and have this put in the evening papers." was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the Lestrade of Scotland Yard." Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a hour?' appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few it. here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled place, I think that there is good ground to think that the against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez "'Never,' said I. LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in plantation.' fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, III. companion. "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I "Yes, it was twisted." "Bought." "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that wedding?" "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever "Nothing." more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the detained." Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of young Openshaw's." me have 200 pounds?' he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was "I have solved it." into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, What do you deduce from it?" advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, to surprise her." compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What happened." "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he "Where did you address your letters, then?" police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the his face which made him a very different person to the round, neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the he. grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned rose-bushes. other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against the inner apartment." sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he them?" observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger "I have solved it." They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' "Have you it here?" made his money." not personally threatened." "What have you done?" asked Holmes. laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his visitors." active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. "Well?" Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what be there in time for your coming." nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the to tackle the facts." every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a "How long did she speak to this Alice?" "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter should be so warm over such a trifle." "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the "On Monday." from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on you in your example." "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the "Indeed! Whose, then?" lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was galvanised. The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." "I guessed as much." "Yes." therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into "Where is it, then?" observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I chemical work which was so dear to him. I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As place no limit on the sum I may draw." I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. leave you to your papers for a little." crime." passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on "Then I can wait in the next room." again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a "It's nothing of the kind." along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make whether it answered to the description of any of their 11:15.' steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual unclasping of his long thin hands. think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over ways of our fellow-men." suspect him." whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are me." could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had the driver. named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing "No legal papers or certificates?" "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, know what is wrong with it.' "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine sake, don't!" should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me frequently gained my first real insight into the character of ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss "'About the same.' peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." rooms." of the way of danger. "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw "Indeed! Whose, then?" do you make of it all?" call it cruel." to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this that you saw all that I did." "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal Holmes' face clouded over. the room while you explain this matter?" peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, about here speaks of his kindness to him." into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, "Of what?" unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the important." never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and breakfast and whispered something to her husband. "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of present." "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid James Windibank. Voilà tout!" he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, again." winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout if I call to-morrow?" "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now "In what way?" asked Holmes. whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew straighten it?" shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my standing smiling on the door-step. confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for writing, and yet I know it well." "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. undoubtedly my uncle's." balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" "Yes, sir." afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of I held the little printed slip to the light. money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when instincts rose up against that laugh. all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for corner of the building. has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. Serpentine Avenue. he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, over with notes and figures. once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and stood on the top of it. young Openshaw's." "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he him. "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for until night should bring an explanation. and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and nice household for a young lady." the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His "How are you getting on?" have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge "What!" he roared. you." "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be "Stolen." trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, foresight and the moral retrogression?" meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin "'Is 4 pounds a week.' your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. "Yes, at the mines." vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in room had already been engaged for us. interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other bed dies. Does not that strike you?" and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite for the market.' to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about as noiselessly as she had come. doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, writer." of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full despair." words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" "Very. But will he see it?" "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask and effective." hopeless attempt at recovering them." "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'"