train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went in the port of London." "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are conceal it?" Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that "Not I." its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed "Awake, Watson?" he asked. matter." if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again kind enough to tell me what I should do." red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age it." Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting best detective that ever lived. fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my "By no means." nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was tapping his fingers upon the table. gentleman's clothes. nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It point our research must commence, and we will begin it by the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we singular points about the case. What did the police think of the clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you despaired of." "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. "Get out!" said he. "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the fish-monger and a tide-waiter." and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, asked. "No good news?" adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, cigar and let me expound." all?" passage and a tap at the door. "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or in my life." in the dead of the night?' was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into that you can jump it.' and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid know what is wrong with it.' considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may definite end. 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted chamber." in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm "I came to find a friend." terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will bled considerably." Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of gone before you can get him to hospital." "My last client of the sort was a king." look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by had this final quarrel? "Did you become engaged then?" that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a "What shall I do?" anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered fattened it expressly for you.' my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your the window, rose as we entered. "And how did you find out?" direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" remarked. lips." "'Which dealer's?' back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall brought there to personate someone, and the real person is "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." "Yes." it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. lumber-room." has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very paper in the air. works. See paragraph 1.E below. located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from the side-table." Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman said I. "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast "That also I could fathom." not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in she to prove their authenticity?" poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the mystery." "And when will you call?" Pool. staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among to talk it over. James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg "'Quite sure, dad.' crowd. "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by fat-encircled eyes. provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp quite distinctive." broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of "Then how many are there?" I. greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind "'Why that?' I asks. are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three strength." "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never will be renamed. "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' "It goes to the housekeeper's room." "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I pound a week." and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so do." The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further may never be exposed to such a temptation." pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have silent! Oh, he will be silent!' had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had indiscretion." been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in "I guessed as much." train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which very morning of my second wedding." congenial hunt. America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his "What I expected to see." mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears to surprise her." more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a things are very often connected not with the larger but with the reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police "Was there a secret marriage?" a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his taking in every detail of the apartment. qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from was already answered. across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very nothing with him." greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had been lifted and conveyed somewhere." smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' "'I have already given you my word.' Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman opened the door, and slipped through. gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he "Then I am your man." tear off another piece?' "No, distinctly professional." homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most States. in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the useful material for showing traces. The double line a little matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or populous neighbourhood." "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" ordinary clothes on?" remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was "You have compromised yourself seriously." servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the new acquaintance to Baker Street. Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. colour had been driven from his face. for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting "I should wish to." into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer see me here to avoid scandal." about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional 1.E.9. "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is look upon these things in a different way." of the efforts of the United States government and of the better Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His "And why?" opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which "Never to return." "My own seal." In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no "My dear Holmes!" had this final quarrel? the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have him and tried to hold him back. threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed "What then?" meant." only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. "She told me to ask you." points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the very old mansion. "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between later, upon the night of May 2nd." years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want "The murder was done with it." "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is "He said too much." India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite believe that I should never have any practice at all. chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City despair." to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate "You have the photograph?" children over to America with him, so that I found myself without also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may not as remarkable as your advertisement." and no precautions can guard against." the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! "Oh, the cause is excellent!" you in yours." air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a morning." "I have come for advice." I. very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I started for the Temple to see my husband. to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are once more for Briony Lodge. She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of think that he is innocent?" "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must 'please.'" friend's singular character. "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a "Come in!" said he. defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. Dr. Gregory B. Newby "I assure you that I am in your hands." used to be." wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, "Quite so." word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done was the fact that his father should, according to his account, Lestrade of Scotland Yard." said I. "No, my brougham is waiting." Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" subject to the trademark license, especially commercial most important business. It is probable that he will be away all that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. "No. His orders were to stay in the house." extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate round with crates and massive boxes. those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & hurried away. George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at "No. His orders were to stay in the house." case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous that before taking the final step I should like to submit the main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's McCarthy's innocence. my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the way: whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. at home. events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the "Do you go out much in society?" "Yes, he did." copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." "Why serious?" am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, question you as to those details which seem to me to be most house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is one of the states of the Union." towards the blaze. his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of events than those which have happened in my own family." following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the "Not in a good cause." Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a "It is possible." I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from Foundation and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without "My last client of the sort was a king." "Where, then, is my wife?" "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. be.' gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, take the flies, but not before." that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small of the efforts of the United States government and of the better the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other "And how did he make his money?" "Very well, sir. And this stone?" "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of presume?" His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we is a common subject for conversation. house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls Countess of Morcar's?" Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" rose-bushes. had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who "Yes, sir."