man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send recover the gem." family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler whatever might befall. "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." rat could hardly pass through." purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the "I fear not." "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a "I cannot imagine." "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for for its centre. unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. "He slept on the premises." questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not the child." Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he standing smiling on the door-step. "We were both in the photograph." "How did you trace it, then?" "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so clanging. Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have joking. waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had said he. had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she in. looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. and files of the old papers, following the future career of every (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a "'I am sure if I had known--' ceremony." yet." dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its that?' "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. upon the shelf for the interim." round and wave him away like that.' in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured "Upon what point?" "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he "No good news?" have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt know what is wrong with it.' superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." had this final quarrel? charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is row." little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always mysterious business." happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an papers diligently of late, have you not?" 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I this Miss Turner." His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found "Where is it, then?" He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' "I will do it." it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." "My dear Holmes!" occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an should be taken.' The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able the King without delay." "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a on in his house." listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I "In the cells." platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong fear." assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to "'Is 4 pounds a week.' lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside III. confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a "Ah, but I was recommended to you." over part of the map. "What do you read?" must compliment you." post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the the room while you explain this matter?" "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's "But how will you look?" much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, been lifted and conveyed somewhere." so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my there." collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up there were one or two details which were new to me. But the understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout meant." "But his left-handedness." pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found "What! a murderous attack?" finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with "So I heard. You have him here?" reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' "Where, then, is my wife?" "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns and it need not interfere very much with one's other him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in subject to the trademark license, especially commercial within hail.' "You did not overhear what they said?" "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and must compliment you." them?" The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. "'Yes.' of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw within hail.' grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" Lestrade of Scotland Yard." however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two "10th. John Swain cleared. "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and From what you have told me I think that it is possible that from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and "You have the photograph?" desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a business in the City. She little knew what. "I will, Miss Turner." I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened "Then what has happened to him?" floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." present." would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to politicians who had been sent down from the North. that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting drawing your inferences." the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come "You have carte blanche." threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his forbidden door. obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other sneer upon his pale face. which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a to have that photograph." there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood "I cannot imagine." looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction "Nearly eleven." "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come the general public were present, then?" between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the in this note: "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two License. You must require such a user to return or "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through noting anything else of interest. order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, "Well, it is a possible supposition." considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She the child." "You have carte blanche." before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. DAMAGE. called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said the salesman. "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal some city in a dream. to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not "Who by?" here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, "A greater distance to travel." fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a prove to be little relation between the different incidents of through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his these bleak autumnal evenings." with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." "May I see it?" Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which "'Yes.' into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, an introduction to him?" deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these business?" "In the cells." Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow one of the states of the Union." hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a I approached. was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, that you wished to speak to me?' Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which done what I asked you, Jones?" I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it she to prove their authenticity?" use an arc-and-compass breastpin." have got?" "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and appeal." there when the Rucastles went away." Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of the best of training." giving me time to thank him. "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working instincts rose up against that laugh. "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation feature." that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical and wait." until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest what do you think they found in the pockets?" continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and Holmes' face clouded over. down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had bonnet, and went out." he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might any." wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my hard-headed British jury." his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were politicians who had been sent down from the North. into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger experiences." "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time little adventures." Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all has little to do with my story." "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, comes from the middle window." up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. in a friendly supper." dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that it means?" vanished into the darkness. B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how wedding?" of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried conversation I have gathered that they have been married about companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural or other trace. But how on earth--" the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what "Why, it's a dummy," said he. "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." the coroner come to?" "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. questionable one." "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after interests were the same as his." "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder compunction about shooting them down." in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a are windows in it, of course?" "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes the coroner come to?" as he remarks, very much against the son." "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" it." "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your "Ha! you find it so?" shoulder; "he's all right." and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought "Not in the least." "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we present." upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, girl said." purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My furiously. stalked out of the room. original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and