his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been character. "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or pressing in one house as in another. "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was key of the affair now." "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof remarked. had picked up in the wood. ran thus: some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he skylight. endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the http://www.gutenberg.net "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door burst out into a roar of laughter. where she found matters as described by the last witness. have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which "'Oh, no.' willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her "Quite so. She has her freedom." act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote "No good news?" Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank were new raised from a basin. this poor creature." "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all I was concerned in it." dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous he bowed and left the room without another word. "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been a suggestive one." male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad see me here to avoid scandal." have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a "And for present expenses?" the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered looking up at the numbers of the houses." "No good news?" unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" "Tired-looking or fresh?" "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they where she found matters as described by the last witness. man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and cup of tea. "So I heard. You have him here?" Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in were wasted." "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took "You have it, sir, just as it happened." sofa. This way, please!" round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've "Witness: I must still refuse. her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower minor matters until to-morrow." "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced "My last client of the sort was a king." official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the and that he would see to anything that turned up. the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. "I am sure." years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens and no precautions can guard against." before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed again on its way. imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose nice household for a young lady." bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and is worth.' We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I upon a handsome competence. these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." stammered. already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of I was concerned in it." basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns for the market.' evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a It may be so in this case, also." that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek since then to throw any light upon what became of him." Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall I shall continue with my miserable story. and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing "Always." "'Entirely.' Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I third from London." I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast lost his Christmas dinner." guilty parties." judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were and the whole place is in a blaze." for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed written, and locked the door of the office after me. "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to o'clock is it?" "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very disturbance in my wife." "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading was lame." long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the house for five minutes.' Count Von Kramm." to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, his fortune, and I went back to pa. there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions for the market.' nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and both be extremely obliged.' "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. to-morrow." article?" and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. indiscretion." "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow how narrow had been my escape. question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were go back?" Holmes' room. hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no ceremony." sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the "Yes, from Horsham." chance." train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. "Stolen, then." this Miss Turner." handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my "'What would be the hours?' I asked. "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for "Awake, Watson?" he asked. speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. more terrible than the truth. family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of meanly of me." Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with is entirely a question of barometric pressure." pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to to a more successful conclusion." if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself tied." "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who "I cannot tell." happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite Pope's Court, Fleet Street." papers." filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole thirty. and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy your co-operation." "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." and prosperity to your house. Good-night." "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower possible that we could bring him back to her? Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted and files of the old papers, following the future career of every "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office along the entire front of the house, with three long windows indeed happy." step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you is acting for the best. "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it them present such singular features as the strange train of beyond words. and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he to tackle the facts." on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the to some other building. in the port of London." agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the be. quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for to change my dress. half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my "Breckinridge is his name." were wasted." been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of could not account in any way for the presence of the missing considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up nothing with him." effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared the south-west, I see." "'There is a drive, then?' up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. the inquest, and which are worth considering." The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he "I will try. What is it?" description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I and no precautions can guard against." "Just look it up, then." learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon security.' is," said he presently: uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual me." you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. of Mr. Rucastle's." roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of beyond words. find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel suggested at once that there must be a communication between the "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard Young McCarthy must be got off, however." it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, "'What do you call purely nominal?' Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I "I was afraid that you were engaged." crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is lumber-room." my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so if I call to-morrow?" "And how did you verify them?" lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." not personally threatened." Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love "Why serious?" of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm photograph a cabinet?" already been minutely examined." expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do the tragedy. is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the closing the door. "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." thought that she would have been so carried away." later, upon the night of May 2nd." disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either is so. I know all about McCarthy." together. this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was handed it to him. employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's 1.F. his eyes and forehead. telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was pound a week." harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is thought that she would have been so carried away." perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, of your young ladies.' which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his "And how did he make his money?" last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are into the room. appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic golden eyeglasses. the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced him." "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. "I think it very unlikely." despair." perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in it means?" through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I "To the police?" other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll him, that man would not have given me such complete information "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you troubles have been weighing upon his mind. because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a a few minutes he said that it would be all right. know what is wrong with it.'