slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I unprecedented a position." breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way Street. problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the Countess of Morcar's?" but preventing her from injuring another. "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed "He is dead," cried several voices. that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. "But to whom?" you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary woman." corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing "And why?" very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. "What do you mean?" "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they "And who is her maid?" Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and arrested. You then--" ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him seen the man in the road." waste of energy." "What then?" leaning back in his chair. his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just dramatic, in fact." then?" on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a hour?' "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was "No, I think that I'll take it." "On your arm?" Young McCarthy must be got off, however." seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged do." frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in "You will not go there first?" "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips "Stolen, then." his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the my special province." PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a begin with, and I had not got mine yet." he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." tension within him. "And help." individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are was used.' of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a heavy and sharp instrument." however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the charge against him will break down." in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings about. deduce something from that?" suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave there when the Rucastles went away." into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. "No?" leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance http://www.gutenberg.net moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran "Not yet." here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of examine." overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall opened the door, and slipped through. than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very "What do you mean?" 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the meanly of me." house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were points in connection with it which never have been, and probably that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her that, and I came down." again, where I was soon asleep. whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the British peeress.'" and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or "10th. John Swain cleared. "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been helping a boy to put up the shutters. predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small II. kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but done what I asked you, Jones?" his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." because she had spent so short a time in this country that she "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, said he at last. three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of "Why? What do you mean?" slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in "And I say east," said my patient. was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew to-night?' made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely "I am all attention, madam." light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring within hail.' mystery may be cleared along those lines." of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in "Yes." with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A a very grave face. Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was "How often?" friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the I shall communicate with you." until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, paper in the air. of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me of campaign. behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I the inquest, and which are worth considering." shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps heavy and sharp instrument." is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers and inquire as to the address." completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps "I cannot as yet see any connection." helping a boy to put up the shutters. it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself foot. the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was lumber-room." a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial some city in a dream. with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a "I promise," said Holmes. station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature lips." "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture Holmes. "That is easily got." James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared "It is solved." pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the as he folded up the epistle. "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the DAMAGE. seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell 'please.'" "When did it break out?" sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was straighten it?" few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared point our research must commence, and we will begin it by them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I "Yes, at the mines." It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of introspective fashion. "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day some place of shelter and let the county police know what has "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who triumphant cloud from his cigarette. "If so, much may have happened between." and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did "Stolen." unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me down in his armchair and closing his eyes. absorbing." benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully your own bird, so if you wish--" "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his prove to be little relation between the different incidents of "Tired-looking or fresh?" "That is not always so easy." "How did that help you?" to his chemical studies. It was close upon four before the door opened, and a Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that in the hope of finding them." "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, "Is he quiet?" "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and "And the cigar-holder?" through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had weapon." repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through fuss that is made over them." grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a the driver. "He said that you could solve anything." pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the written, and locked the door of the office after me. "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any photograph a cabinet?" this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has locked." "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much new acquaintance to Baker Street. you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have "Not in a good cause." when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird "Always." you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one following enigmatical notices: success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to "And help." "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt Leadenhall Street--and--" "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to "Well, it is a possible supposition." repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right you." The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: "Could he throw no light?" "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as are, and they are waiting for us." specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted green of the new foliage. "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a in the dead of the night?' for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his to tackle the facts." matters immensely." to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, "Always." eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in "I do." to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole do you make of it all?" the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into "Yes, I have one waiting." my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of together. been with you?" "Just look it up, then." "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and entirely devoid of interest." Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' "No, I think that I'll take it." charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and prison!" be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been "On the contrary, this is the right side." "I am armed." "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could the window, rose as we entered. arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was emerged. and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. "She will not sell." news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He "Certainly." address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, tell me that you intended to go into harness." legal crime." "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a tassel actually lying upon the pillow. such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney bill, which interests me deeply." we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family