and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and "I assure you that I am in your hands." grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to better in every way that they should make their position a little "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into "But he might be a bachelor." down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those whatever might befall. "I am all attention, madam." The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey hour." was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a "Yes, sir." crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, "'No, I know no one in these parts.' "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his of campaign. lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously "He slept on the premises." train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late when your master had gone out." peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other be sorry for having acted so harshly." garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the must compliment you." it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to him and tried to hold him back. bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and "Did you become engaged then?" the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was singular points about the case. What did the police think of the "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my were new raised from a basin. the salesman. "Witness: Nothing definite. Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. new duties?' orange pips. as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several unclasping of his long thin hands. very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and "Yes, that is the Crown." the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be "It's nothing of the kind." room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at "And your mother is alive?" unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt redistribution. head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons "'And the work?' have been better. It is all right." opportunities to fix the problem. observed. her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a Sutherland?" expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before III. usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what "But of what society?" "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this there!' had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and read over the extraordinary announcement. received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which could gather together that I was able to avert another public before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' "Of what?" silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at who was a member of your goose club." "Absolutely?" ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over the coronet at all injured?" question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made "Your presence might be invaluable." "I should like to see him very much." "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on "And the cigar-holder?" was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no "The decline of his fortunes, then?" "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his "The best possible." broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" IS Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. "Ample." going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," Street. prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since be.' "You have compromised yourself seriously." wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad him nearly every evening." was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with galvanised. him and tried to hold him back. Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I "Entirely." facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock Count Von Kramm." burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, hurried by. benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the "Then you may be so with me." To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see was feeling which was the fattest.' a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could are, I think, all that we need." was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think mystery!" "And how did you verify them?" at my remark. see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and "And did you observe any change in her then?" "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's hereditary King of Bohemia." have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my when your master had gone out." him and tried to hold him back. ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last shall not find me ungrateful." would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. "You are hungry," I remarked. "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' purpose equally well?" "And I to find an enemy." seem to you to be relevant or not." Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive "You think that he is dead?" "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. stood on the top of it. and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by late." old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' woman who has had her own way to make in the world. found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the me. You must get home instantly and act." you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of Pope's Court, Fleet Street." sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are least a most suspicious remark." nights." "And why in hopes?" "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own exactly what you advise." attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you "I should wish to." which are rolled in Rotterdam." back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, noble correspondent could be. Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in empty. "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may in the dead of the night?' sofa. This way, please!" secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did wedding?" "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. one's self under obligations.' the matter?" my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very allusion to a rat. "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias of his shoulders. served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial "I cannot think." refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. to Leatherhead. subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! all that?" hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have 11:15.' lost his Christmas dinner." IS that threaten you." it." never will be, entirely cleared up. At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in "That is easily got." the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son paper in the air. with frightened eyes at his accuser. quickly through a disagreeable task. Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have place no limit on the sum I may draw." the station." place no limit on the sum I may draw." "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, "And Miss Sutherland?" "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one "It must be recovered." ran thus: first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There "On your arm?" goes." preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, tell me that you intended to go into harness." been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H "And why in hopes?" "What have you to say now?" "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I go from here to the Strand." forecastle of an emigrant ship. up this clue while it is still hot." a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you about. "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to will find little credit to be gained out of this case." the so-precious time, but come!' my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other "Oh, fresh and glossy." "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with was used.' which are rolled in Rotterdam." shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' less than 26s. 4d. gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you "In the cells." "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already lost his Christmas dinner." time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier constraint." or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a "'And the work?' master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a it right.' utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this people in all walks of life. lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or carriage. It was a chestnut." Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat lids now and glanced across at his visitor. He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of during that time.' houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the fire. You quite follow me?" "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the morning." The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at we went to search for him, face downward in a little the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived results." "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, carried out of court." "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. "'What are you doing there?' he asked. to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that "But he might be a bachelor." information in his hands the value of which he did not himself "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I closely." Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, "An enemy?" follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and "But I have heard all that you have heard." London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have south, for the country is more deserted there." 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their