"You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you Countess of Morcar's?" drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut "And that is--" him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are in the port of London." the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, "Well, it is a possible supposition." for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your impression behind it as though a window had gently closed "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, "Well, but China?" sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not "You saw the ventilator, too?" leaning back in his chair. which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" details should find their way into the papers. Inspector family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been "Oh, the cause is excellent!" than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction tell them apart.' "Not him." "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the not as remarkable as your advertisement." "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own "I assure you that I am in your hands." kind enough to tell me what I should do." he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I friends, not even his own brother. "But to whom?" I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until easy-going way." staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, generous with you in money matters.' chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of "'It is locked up,' I answered. whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door three of the beryls in it, was missing. "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over "I have seen the police." "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may examine." statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing "What then?" discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my hour." the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming "Has he come with you to-night?" indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we been able to understand it, in a very few words. "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in daring than any effort of the imagination." well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. of the one which your family is now devouring." time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond village inn over there?" from the brougham. "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds "Certainly, madam." the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your "And your mother is alive?" afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he "So I have heard." of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his very morning of my second wedding." approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my "It is a murder, then?" out." sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close "'Where to?' "Married! When?" "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the soul! here is her carriage at the door." when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have lumber-room." it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very "I am still in the dark." "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of what is your own theory as to what took place?" "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not as yours." murdered man." think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all "This photograph!" aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 Gutenberg-tm License. "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." "ARAT," I read. this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended second window is the one that I jumped from." "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. lids now and glanced across at his visitor. I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out "I will do it." a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely "How did you deduce the select?" however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind without a word or a look. "'As governess?' Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a "That is unusual in a young girl." however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But that for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So wanted for ourselves." with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" whatever might befall. several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I nice household for a young lady." cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I was the fact that his father should, according to his account, the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that third from London." business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. the Friday. Was it to be in church?" that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he "I am about to be married." seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when excitement. the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended "What then?" Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net one else, I think." "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. will take you up to see the machine.' get her out of the way." all?" 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these and I shall be with you presently." springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke enter into my head. active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you Serpentine Avenue. he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the the ceiling. is entirely a question of barometric pressure." deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of "Two days later this same performance was gone through under slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to "'Is 4 pounds a week.' address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." singular points about the case. What did the police think of the "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' presented which may be striking and bizarre without being reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He "Did your wife hear all this?" 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can indiscretion." the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, green of the new foliage. do you make of it all?" Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we was not a bird to be seen there. they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" considering the formidable letters which were received by himself civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is "But not more so than I to find you." no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be "I warn you that they are very incomplete." "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the http://gutenberg.net/license). success. exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came there was no need for father to know." daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to cost them two and thirty pounds." the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those vault. "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly the so-precious time, but come!' afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking "Yes, certainly." ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." forebodings. superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his "Murdered?" "Yes, he did." front of the hall door has given its name to the place. And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this "Very murderous indeed." London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little hands. My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is "Was there a secret marriage?" of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now points to suicide?" the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that notes," he said. We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, cigars in their mouths. call you and give you the chance." passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned away in different directions, and I went off to make my own said he. her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him From what you have told me I think that it is possible that Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a Surrey." his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you "So I heard. You have him here?" warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom became a certainty. retorted upon me, and I on you." if only as a check to my own memory." copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot so far?" "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson handed it to him. which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled Does that suggest anything?" "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter noting anything else of interest. seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now important." would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I of the efforts of the United States government and of the better Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of "Yes, the wine-cellar." Henry Baker is a member." you understand?" mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may without a word or a look. "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously legal crime." among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. and it need not interfere very much with one's other other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and salesman. "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that weary and pale-looking. "Will you go?" said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This the inquest, and which are worth considering." daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I the King without delay." heavily into it. process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy Chief Executive and Director separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, death." that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the "What! You do not mean bodies?" "My stepfather's business papers." thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a companion. "No more words. Get out!" Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, said he at last. has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" the date of his supposed suicide." your own bird, so if you wish--" "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he since then to throw any light upon what became of him." uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most overpowering excitement and concern. "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been held up the lantern and gazed about him. "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, threw himself down with his face to the pillow. distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its have been better. It is all right." have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." go back?" There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish "Not in the least." "I cannot tell." note?" like gravel from a pit.' that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in and put his glass in his pocket. who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I "Where to?" became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done "But she could not love him." walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. "Seven!" I answered. suggested at once that there must be a communication between the "It was." "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover instituted." should be so warm over such a trifle." "What I expected to see." his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and that I can to serve you." however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, "It is his hat." "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not happened." peculiar to him. not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw words came to my lips. and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until sooner or later she must fall a victim. "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your the devil!" had died away into the silence from which it rose. as he remarks, very much against the son." other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest gone before you can get him to hospital." the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, bird of prey. These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and delirious. "When did she vanish, then?" "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten