"I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea John Swain, of St. Augustine. knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but "It missed him, then?" also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from developed." "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." at my remark. consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had did not hear it also.' "He is dead," cried several voices. complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may green of the new foliage. was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." fear." "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a fear." must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of My friend smiled. "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward astonishment. digesting their breakfasts at home." rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." "You think so, too?" "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" "And how did he make his money?" halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one this Miss Turner." Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at "What, then, did Peterson do?" "Yes." Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. "'How far from the body?' "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the "Then, how do you know?" "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a "The Cedars?" "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be depend upon my doing so.' me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most License. You must require such a user to return or "And how in the world did you find them?" fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is better grown goose." "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock locked." drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of seven miles from Eyford Station.' I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, hurried by. Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an you, my dear young lady?' without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The with some details as to your case." "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other once more on the important position which you have been fortunate may have an influence upon European history." have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be manager. His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. *** START: FULL LICENSE *** by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of believe that I should never have any practice at all. Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE records." goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she really the only notable feature about the thing." fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere the ceiling. description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in to his chemical studies. a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs His name is Francis Prosper." II. certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." the armchair which I pushed forward for him. dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea "What is it, then--a fire?" you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, arrangements." careless servant girl?" depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in the very morning of the wedding." promised to bring home. "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon at a side door. only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and Henry Baker is a member." "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. him. even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not taking in every detail of the apartment. we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that results." Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical "Pray continue your narrative." "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. fatally injured? Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side whole matter to your consideration." "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir "It came here." circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very lost nothing by them." of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my American. Then who could this American be, and why should he newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, woman." "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought washing it down with a long draught of water. "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his awaited us upon the table. "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the humiliation." "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very and it need not interfere very much with one's other want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is results." month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden your sleep?' "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make into the bag, and made for the door. it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She bears upon the case?" "It came here." at a side door. room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. I think that I could be of assistance to you." she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed "Yes." "Then he might have called to you?" "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to man. and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you asked. "It's nothing of the kind." instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable his knees, staring into the fire. what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We Leadenhall Street--and--" receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the infinite languor in his face. this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of "Then how many are there?" drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do the dangers which encompass me." Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open "What is it, then--a fire?" Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter main points of my analysis." snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush feature." answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower guilty parties." used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of "Thank you. And your address?" "'What then?' I asked. when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made be sorry for having acted so harshly." is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls Where does the thing come from?' have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a village inn over there?" "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to minor matters until to-morrow." just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to who was a member of your goose club." "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for "And sit in the dark?" happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, had formerly been in part my own. one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill burst into a hearty fit of laughter. which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the "'Then let me do so?' Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out that you can jump it.' if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he to talk it over. "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his "No, thank goodness, she did not." the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You about here speaks of his kindness to him." carried out of court." "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working together. distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate anything to do with the matter?" deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may "Then he might have called to you?" make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. him!" eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, "How long did she speak to this Alice?" hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for I think that I could be of assistance to you." time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was at once, for I have only half an hour." foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to chance." course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! arrested. You then--" society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining once more to my work. affair. a monotonous occupation." them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of "And Miss Sutherland?" direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a directors, with the result that you have seen." "But how?" Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's "An enemy?" putting in the horse. window when the police appeared." with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a is four-and-twenty." obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. "You think so, too?" "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." now. It seems that there had been some informality about their fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than "Where did you address your letters, then?" long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I "It is solved." "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel "VIOLET HUNTER." suddenly upon us." to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his this truth that in these little records of our cases which you our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he the morning and make my own way in the world.' a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, "A client, then?" fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to it means?" "What!" he roared. "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, to-night?' his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he for and were ordered to this address. have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no question," said Holmes, smiling. Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon such person." considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At electronic works shoulder; "he's all right." "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old events, Mr. Windibank!" this remarkable episode. outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong girl said." was a perfect sample of the class.