foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are as he folded up the epistle. "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his "My Mary? Impossible!" voice. Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential "Thank you. And your address?" "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of a little more before I quite committed myself. "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she "That is unusual in a young girl." King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the "And the murderer?" on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them "I would give my fortune to have them back." "Yes?" long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, "I should wish to." room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at where she found matters as described by the last witness. reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that neither fascinating nor artistic." workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my "Nothing?" vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words "That was it, sir." "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you "By no means." "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two pressing in one house as in another. analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, this unhappy family?" is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who "I am armed." it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until "I cannot think." waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but I took the paper from him and read as follows: but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some and the church but not where the lady lived." sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a "To an end?" "And now?" I asked. "The rest you will leave in our hands." The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found floor. records." across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you them?" key turn in the lock." common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But "You don't mind breaking the law?" places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair "'Yes.' Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the hereditary King of Bohemia." fire. You quite follow me?" in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all will not take me long to tell. "And I." outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been done what I asked you, Jones?" demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his that he has suffered." through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal particular state visit http://pglaf.org endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and "Where to?" "What have you done?" asked Holmes. bed dies. Does not that strike you?" however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is "'I shall certainly be there.' explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been my friend's incisive reasoning. drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small followed. "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George hurried away. "Very much so." "Yes." this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I derbies." noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. "Now, then, what's the last entry?" lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when not come at once?" the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my disappearance of these gems?" the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me as noiselessly as she had come. skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still during the last few years, and there are many noble families to which it had come upon my father." impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. that, and I came down." James Windibank. Voilà tout!" my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her "Awake, Watson?" he asked. have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for is," said he presently: again." sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon your co-operation." "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and whole matter to your consideration." presented which may be striking and bizarre without being To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his sofa. This way, please!" thirty. "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were "The decline of his fortunes, then?" "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of the side-table." and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest "I was sure that I might rely on you." "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his better grown goose." fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed and a shock of very red hair. yards of it?' Watson," he said cordially. acquaintance?" her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single again." "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' "And I." "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked "It came here." McCarthy's innocence. "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, London for the present?" is four-and-twenty." ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six IS behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The nights." "Were they all fastened this morning?" neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in answer." battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by "To the police?" "Is he quiet?" every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire the room while you explain this matter?" The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," "'About the same.' whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" "My dear Holmes!" 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from that I can to serve you." "The decline of his fortunes, then?" evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and felt the room to be a little close.' "Never." Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to "We must have a cab." with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite "How long did she speak to this Alice?" who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about heavy and sharp instrument." seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, overpowering excitement and concern. have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not "It is his hat." "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent way in." "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress that before taking the final step I should like to submit the "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest the room while you explain this matter?" Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. since then to throw any light upon what became of him." "How did he come?" the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it Henry Baker is a member." I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the "Not yet." the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a hardly wander." course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the delirious. there is a decided draught." "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. it. not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a you came in." business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. of Mr. Rucastle's." "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by Eyford at 11:15.' of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time *** START: FULL LICENSE *** crowd. "Then what has happened to him?" Henry Baker is a member." "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray friends, not even his own brother. Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the "And how in the world did you find them?" threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal "You don't mind breaking the law?" "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than lids now and glanced across at his visitor. wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the dramatic, in fact." practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. even of instruction." "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," and all of them with the keenest interest. appeal." although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in "'Never,' said I. father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his "Very. But will he see it?" suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be cheerful." "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but "I should wish to." determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting to a light-house. "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such call for protection in the marriage market, for the present foresight and the moral retrogression?" have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round "Oh, fresh and glossy." "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." deduce something from that?" say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his Chief Executive and Director and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily "Did your wife hear all this?" how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." experiences." window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt lectures into a series of tales." a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen knowledge of the world." the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled bachelor.' chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, "That is possible." of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, his knees, staring into the fire. "Have you her photograph?" of Mr. Rucastle's." The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged his cane at the bell-pull. civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I at a side door. jewels which you have stolen?' compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions when your master had gone out." King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall "You forget that I know nothing about it." "What do you make of that, Watson?" "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from this as likely?" possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross time." "You have the photograph?" public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I "What shall I do?" not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by families. Now for the facts. like that before?" frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. Arthur Conan Doyle "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" front of the hall door has given its name to the place. built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from "'As governess?' maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and clanging. Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears power." right! Sit down and let us talk it over." "I don't believe it." interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social Holmes. "How can you tell that?" some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, in his hands." banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell "And for present expenses?" would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late the child." "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to The police have openly confessed that they can at present make "Then I can wait in the next room." relation between them, and what the object of his repeated "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or "Where to?" informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns and looked back. and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted was a loud and authoritative tap.