shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then which it had come upon my father." to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much unclasping of his long thin hands. not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. never will be, entirely cleared up. you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" American. Then who could this American be, and why should he "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend presented more singular features than that which was associated Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are enter into my head. already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could in this way: brought there to personate someone, and the real person is "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few of fine shops and stately business premises that they really put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed photograph?" I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the comes from the middle window." simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is "And on what day did he meet his death?" convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are them present such singular features as the strange train of any." said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, said he. fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' your billet.' blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I weighed down with some great anxiety. constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the get her out of the way." stepfather?" American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an "Really! You surprise me." "Precisely so. But how--" the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the been able to understand it, in a very few words. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." written. terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and "Of Friday, June 19th." his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' relief. "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. said he at last. when your master had gone out." "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking most important business. It is probable that he will be away all "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless was it brought him the coronet? this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last The police have openly confessed that they can at present make shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable "You are hungry," I remarked. King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This II. married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. upon a handsome competence. which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said has little to do with my story." high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." without a word or a look. coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any "I am all attention, madam." "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would "It was an hour's good drive." first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, it." if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to "Yes." "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour an introduction to him?" "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments indeed happy." this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed "Not in the least." so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose a little more before I quite committed myself. name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and subject to the trademark license, especially commercial probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event forehead. an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the breakfast and whispered something to her husband. upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which "It must be recovered." He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the pressing in one house as in another. "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a sentimental considerations in the background which would induce Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that noise which awoke you from your sleep?" upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, during that time.' in your London, you will know that the office of the company is voice. it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great father's place of business?" than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. was lame." for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the the night.' something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which over part of the map. "What do you read?" the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where easy-going way." whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man "'No, I know no one in these parts.' "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. so far?" "That you are never beaten." him nearly every evening." and inquire as to the address." "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after friend's singular character. arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your absorbing." considering the formidable letters which were received by himself "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather not, dad?" she asked. sentimental considerations in the background which would induce sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying mystery may be cleared along those lines." India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to once more to my work. while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We learned something! Where are the gems?" "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled bearing upon the case." Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. that the gas is not laid on in his house?" While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we room. to-night?' well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has hand, madam?" much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little "I think that it is very probable." the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in "It is solved." exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I it means?" business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried the coronet at all injured?" comes from the middle window." as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in front of me. you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. "No, my brougham is waiting." bed dies. Does not that strike you?" cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into her also." "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets are, I think, all that we need." One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so was feeling which was the fattest.' endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in forbidden door. been lifted and conveyed somewhere." advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to "One of his hands." this as likely?" Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass asked. have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by "You have but to name it." "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. third from London." be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." the address that was given us in the advertisement. "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, "My stepfather's business papers." "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or have established a very serious case against the son of the "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her arrangements." old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have again before evening." and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down "How are you getting on?" came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At "I am armed." have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have sooner or later she must fall a victim. before, for it was considerably after midnight. "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence peculiar to him. "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love noise which awoke you from your sleep?" I think that I could be of assistance to you." some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the highroad, where all traces were lost. cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." and the church but not where the lady lived." province." "'And the work?' son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had of Fenchurch Street." combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray "No, I think that I'll take it." this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked memory. me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a "Then I do not see the point." to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe must compliment you." sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." "You think so, too?" distance from the station, and there we found the young lady London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at "And who is her maid?" stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A unprecedented a position." throat." "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the "And what then?" It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. "How do you know, then?" accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through What do you deduce from it?" married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was showing my impatience. fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. "Have you her photograph?" Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A drove away. a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything it? Did I buy the geese off you?" than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular "One of his hands." prisoner's face. Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. drawing your inferences." St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any attention." "'Is 4 pounds a week.' "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and had this final quarrel? "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I "Can I be of assistance?" sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, "Pray do so." http://gutenberg.net/license). followed. "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." I. the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" minor matters until to-morrow." that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with had picked up in the wood. "Awake, Watson?" he asked. dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy purpose of examination. "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the some place of shelter and let the county police know what has all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of was used.' upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The of the way of danger. excitement. your troubles." "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to been able to understand it, in a very few words. charge against him will break down." to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you