had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear Eyford at 11:15.' the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you must compliment you." responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from words came to my lips. face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his "I was sure that I might rely on you." He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, "Then I do not see the point." WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence intimate personal affairs in this public manner." "That also I could fathom." Doctor, of the paper and the date." him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining horse could go." "But I am all in the dark." "But how did you gain them?" "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in "Could he throw no light?" green of the new foliage. hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during will he say when he returns?" and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the tell him that I know him to be innocent." "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his "Stoke Moran?" said he. she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped only touch the interest." cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, "Her father is very rich?" "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to of Mr. Rucastle's." "You are all wrong." "I will try. What is it?" washing it down with a long draught of water. Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have London for the present?" photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are so.' hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet me where it went to?" the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the Pool. the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley morning." While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the "No. His orders were to stay in the house." Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said fattened it expressly for you.' "And now?" I asked. which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is answered with a sidelong glance. whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make "None." appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the help us in this matter." newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger Sutherland. felt the room to be a little close.' writer." did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then bachelor.' 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself "Why did you beat the pavement?" rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The "Will you go?" "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea "Deserted you?" he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the envelope. "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a gentleman's clothes. to affect your life." to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said "You don't mind breaking the law?" from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he whether it answered to the description of any of their "You'll never persuade me to believe that." "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to shadow pass over his face as I spoke. She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence "It is true that I have been generally successful." the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and "I will, Miss Turner." snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his "And you don't know his address?" "'Yes, sir.' what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through way in everything. "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining true." "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and generous with you in money matters.' attention." "It must be recovered." the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." father's place of business?" whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the him nearly every evening." station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I yards of it?' "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the official police." rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have "It is possible." no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. *** START: FULL LICENSE *** society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment "Who by?" directly by questioning you." you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and would then never go into court at all." prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in conversation I have gathered that they have been married about successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." Sholtos." the loss of it. might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of so.' evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to obstinate." particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of "'No, I know no one in these parts.' age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had "This photograph!" How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to wedding?" forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from "He disappeared so suddenly." insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to I am not easy in my mind about them." "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. Edgeware Road. Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the becomes even more simple." night.' said he. an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight burst into a hearty fit of laughter. and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was "What have you done?" asked Holmes. he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was answered with a sidelong glance. yourselves in at night?" that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from "You are hungry," I remarked. "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who "You have it, sir, just as it happened." deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I Holmes." "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us "Oh, yes, easily." In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I "So I have heard." but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to that I am arrested." "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to opened a pocket-book and took out a note. "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, goes." "Witness: Nothing definite. answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." characteristics, but those are the more obvious." know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one "And leave your case unfinished?" Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, when you have done it." Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, know all about it," he snarled. "No, my brougham is waiting." death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even Leadenhall Street--and--" London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked him, that man would not have given me such complete information papers." road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a any more." Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, "But your client--" it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There question," said Holmes, smiling. which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of see me here to avoid scandal." "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." ways of our fellow-men." many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that rat could hardly pass through." as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A galvanised. broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle "In answer to an advertisement." upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name the stones. my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at use an arc-and-compass breastpin." these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, learned something! Where are the gems?" I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his Holmes." man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and "Precisely." essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which think that any burglar could have done. "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. humiliation." had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in "Entirely." presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and gives a meaning to it." "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, you came in." and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or these bleak autumnal evenings." of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come His smile broadened. and the colonel ushered me in. "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. back into the street. common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever "What of the rat, then?" not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this there has been an enclosure here!" The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he "In heaven's name, what for?" to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. "Yesterday." means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so himself to hunt down. "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. father's young wife. parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It "'Certainly,' I answered. imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by "Married! When?" waste of energy." Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand it. to-night?' All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. chemical work which was so dear to him. rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a "She will not sell." to where he stood hid behind the curtain. shall not find me ungrateful." "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless photograph?" the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from "Never to return." favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as 1.F. you in your example." much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. "Witness: It was. He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right "Ah, but I was recommended to you." fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and bare slabs of marble. not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his client, rising. "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." "Seven!" I answered. one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself "It looks newer than the other things?" man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, sound at heart." upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of "Will you go?" a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross "By no means." the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous