I held the little printed slip to the light. hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses "Certainly, madam." we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked should be so warm over such a trifle." quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." people don't know." elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" if only as a check to my own memory." hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening it." submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven "I cannot tell." right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging "No good news?" "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on "'And what are they worth?' I asked. out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two giving me time to thank him. dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. Again Holmes raved in the air. "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from an introduction to him?" was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much "Well, it is a possible supposition." you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler politicians who had been sent down from the North. he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, away in different directions, and I went off to make my own the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. his fortune, and I went back to pa. and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the this as likely?" effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar "Stoke Moran?" said he. question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view about here speaks of his kindness to him." when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to into the room. quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church Edgeware Road. very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All breakfast." as noiselessly as she had come. handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its "The vanishing of the lady." occupations.' headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's will not take me long to tell. 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" been deceived." "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said down. long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for "It is no ordinary one." Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the Stoke Moran." sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when been." business came to an end." stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would "I should wish to." "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It the warnings." chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have "Very much so." an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I some terrible trap for her." You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." think that any burglar could have done. will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked "Oh, the cause is excellent!" it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and was feeling which was the fattest.' prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable "'Why that?' I asks. but preventing her from injuring another. signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your detained." crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom it with his own hands." joking. discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps strong and stiff." see me here to avoid scandal." "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." "She will not sell." "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further sit on the left-hand side of the driver." "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be the house with me." whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman "Yes, it was twisted." was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of "Which are?" "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor young Openshaw's." "Nothing." horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder held up the lantern and gazed about him. pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted "I would give my fortune to have them back." just called myself is not exactly my own." boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get "What do you mean?" "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be floor. bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do and that he would see to anything that turned up. furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. "But you were on a friendly footing?" stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to may never be exposed to such a temptation." also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I mystery!" the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the there in twenty minutes." "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls me. You must get home instantly and act." "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: directly by questioning you." It was close upon four before the door opened, and a The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever "A thing like a cleaver," said he. "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety disappearance of the bride.'" attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close tear off another piece?' again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. "Then he might have called to you?" a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter Clair, of Lee." I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power asked with his eyes open. doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez "And I say east," said my patient. side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you be. foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong "I should be immensely obliged to you." wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My quite distinctive." "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." he bowed and left the room without another word. observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from "No?" answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." is," said he presently: has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw always that they were such commands as a lady might with have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my details." town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all his face which made him a very different person to the round, "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do open." making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, becomes even more simple." Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful to tell." Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the "Why, it's a dummy," said he. She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. happened." the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., "By all means." good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this said I. first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable roused himself from his reverie. that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have "But what harm can there be in that?" was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the has little to do with my story." He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray "'Ample.' "Perhaps I have." test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. his eyes and forehead. keep the flames under. One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to and prosperity to your house. Good-night." with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves all-comprehensive glances. of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, point our research must commence, and we will begin it by of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I yards of it?' "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all not interfere, come what may. You understand?" the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, where Mr. Fordham shows you.' in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" once more on the important position which you have been fortunate mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than down from London to inquire more deeply into it." Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you "The vanishing of the lady." go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a of." at once, for I have only half an hour." seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, assist you in forming an opinion." which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable had a long day." so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin than to us. stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. upon the shelf for the interim." States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our with her." horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography as the one I chose?' "But who is he?" "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the "'How far from the body?' you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of "Not him." had formerly been in part my own. you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in hurried by. "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, is worth.' hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." which was all perfectly true. sneer upon his pale face. as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the it? Did I buy the geese off you?" "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." carried out of court." About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of trying to your nerves." fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, "What shall I do?" that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue "Which surely he restored to their owner?" as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off assist you in forming an opinion." creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered "It is half-past ten now." though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed "Where, then, is my wife?" pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been "She showed me, as I told you she would." affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation "'You cannot say what it was?' though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a "Yes. He waved his hands." stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the both be extremely obliged.' a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured particular state visit http://pglaf.org whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I "It is solved." woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the something of him before." were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. "How many? I don't know." Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my matter over." had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were