harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But strode off upon his way. unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project closely." necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the been able to understand it, in a very few words. think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events McCarthy." "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." you?' it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his giving me time to thank him. him." collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such awaited us upon the table. of a light. you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he sparkled upon his finger. Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting notes," he said. distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he allusion to a rat. strength in the others." volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking handed it to him. contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel secret." "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, "10th. John Swain cleared. finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments "Your presence might be invaluable." traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She "A call for help, you thought?" offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a the tragedy. sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no window when the police appeared." not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end "Yes." Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a "No, distinctly professional." been able to understand it, in a very few words. work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line that you saw all that I did." promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I him." a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have "I am still in the dark." his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and "How did you trace it, then?" was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar have established a very serious case against the son of the "But it has twice been burgled." "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and The King stared at him in amazement. see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out place, I think that there is good ground to think that the had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. then?" home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles bachelor.' it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. before, for it was considerably after midnight. Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, "It's nothing of the kind." "Texas, I think." "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the tension within him. from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob "'How far from the body?' "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of fear." travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." the inquest, and which are worth considering." sit on the left-hand side of the driver." sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the "Witness: It was. George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of present strange and interesting features that it is no easy deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some over his head with a sweet womanly caress. no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend is four-and-twenty." "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." "Which are?" that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a London for the present?" room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, "Whose house is it?" The King stared at him in amazement. they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And definite end. the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who pressing in one house as in another. breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" night.' said he. family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. to tell." clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise "He said too much." room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are something of him before." fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire was a loud and authoritative tap. demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps one else, I think." rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to with the outside air!" "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." "I know where it is." "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I "But we can't all be." retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful way in." standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I as he folded up the epistle. be best to do. a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, you?' that more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon go--none." "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. "Very well, sir. And this stone?" one which it was hard to resist. of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the "The Cedars?" Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name "Why, it's a dummy," said he. to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the formed some opinion?" "It missed him, then?" to that open window." "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate "I was sure that I might rely on you." fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the page at http://pglaf.org "Which surely he restored to their owner?" Chief Executive and Director now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this "'Which dealer's?' her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the drawing your inferences." business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are learned something! Where are the gems?" "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck during that time.' works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the one of them." public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else knowledge of the world." Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, your room." reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking thought that she would have been so carried away." assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an window when the police appeared." "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." said he, "my real name is James Ryder." helping a boy to put up the shutters. time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project "And is that all?" "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable swore that no one else had been in the front room during the "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was business in the City. She little knew what. cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from "It is possible." window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven Have you good authority for what you say?" twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson "I shall most certainly do so." "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a "It may not come to that," said Holmes. "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of my secret was safe in his possession. A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was the coroner come to?" which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We and it need not interfere very much with one's other which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I the driver. "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a may have an influence upon European history." "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is gentleman's clothes. opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and ways including including checks, online payments and credit card "The Coroner: What do you mean? what I may call a really hard day's work." upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out photograph?" and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two row." There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the pressing in one house as in another. without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I me. from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is fattened it expressly for you.' very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall never to learn it at all." McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the "But she could not love him." knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." money should be paid at once.' "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and "Your sister is dead, then?" see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same "We have tried and failed." public press." "Nor running a chance of arrest?" again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally had this final quarrel? October 9, 1890. this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he forebodings. and I shall be with you presently." a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. I have it here in my museum." south, for the country is more deserted there." "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their Edgeware Road. of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding father's young wife. I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who to-night's adventure." gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the late." window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, the inner apartment." "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. whole matter to your consideration." that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a "Entirely." drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window fait accompli?" the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was was once confined in the cab my mission was practically weapon." planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began considering the formidable letters which were received by himself I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the "On your arm?" voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and "Then what has happened to him?" turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate cause to be." interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the Have you good authority for what you say?" examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, test if we have an answer to our advertisement." the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a "But I have heard all that you have heard." pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be