last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." the inquest, and which are worth considering." their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign presented which may be striking and bizarre without being has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon the bottom.' merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method my room." friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." you understand?" Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again "I cannot imagine." Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom "No, I had a dozen." "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge behind me. PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in into the room. "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his detained." "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is society." at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a them?" King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents and all of them with the keenest interest. the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the the bottom.' the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, more solid." bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more occupations.' covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back name is different." off." husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter noting anything else of interest. endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up populous neighbourhood." "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the anything to do with the matter?" the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked For additional contact information: agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." "The rest you will leave in our hands." fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to in this way: zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you "I don't believe it." "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as During two years I have had three consultations and one small everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and "Was she in good spirits?" furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of him. that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." arms and began to sob in a high treble key. of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." "That you are never beaten." I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these shoulder. some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies "By no means." "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could gigantic client. think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings handed it to him. "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have "And why?" "Murdered?" from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with nights." building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. not fit the lock." right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was "Yes, it would be as well." professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, there is a decided draught." Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a "He said that you could solve anything." writers could invent nothing more crude." "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. mystery!" crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a that you saw all that I did." law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he point our research must commence, and we will begin it by I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the orange pips. "Where, indeed?" cigars in the box." With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the you, my dear young lady?' here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which more terrible than the truth. "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the or other trace. But how on earth--" While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of the window, rose as we entered. occurred." everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke "'Never.' his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual on re-entering her father's house?" strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. "You were travelling in the States?" crime. "Yes, there are nearly always some there." his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. "And on what day did he meet his death?" safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and are, and they are waiting for us." either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." felt?" brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, hour?' round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection directors have had misgivings upon the subject." place of silver." It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of them?" "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in absorbing." fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been it." "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." not as remarkable as your advertisement." grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, your sleep?' put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, locked." in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from a monotonous occupation." "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great garden below. "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the "No, I had a dozen." any more." "'And the work?' before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast get the tickets." before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in nonsense.' grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of that you saw all that I did." permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into "None." A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and recall any case within my experience which looked at the first Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very details should find their way into the papers. Inspector "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, "'As governess?' half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to fashion which was peculiar to him. "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. "I am sure." perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. "Yes, certainly." villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so "None." pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire "And what then?" night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country round and wave him away like that.' "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and followed. expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave back to my heart. agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, "And what then?" laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a the side-table." dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to leaning back in his chair. Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two chance." voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of astonishment. had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "And I to find an enemy." luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the Pool. hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and *** START: FULL LICENSE *** Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the During two years I have had three consultations and one small "But she could not love him." approach us with offers to donate. coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His unkempt, staring out at me. Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: copied or distributed: but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, "In San Francisco, a year ago." "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of "I fear not." has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, families. Now for the facts. came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to "Tired-looking or fresh?" very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would the loss of it. surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at success. starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have feature." foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She only touch the interest." "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your "Witness: It was. "Did he not advertise?" and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of arrangements." what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a "But you would not advise me to refuse?" is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel in the port of London." "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." Farm upon the left." blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay outside." wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a DISSOLVED. one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and "Very much so." October 9, 1890. useful material for showing traces. The double line a little those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This it." Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have was a loud and authoritative tap. him, that man would not have given me such complete information "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in as noiselessly as she had come. "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. character. "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed Watson," he said cordially. sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a could go. "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a results." and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle him, that man would not have given me such complete information uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your details." time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat other, as fresh and trim as possible. year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the redistribution. and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had answer." chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped "He slept on the premises." nice household for a young lady." sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." "What!" he roared. suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the this Miss Turner." age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the 1.F. true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept call the police, let the police find what they can.' "You have compromised yourself seriously." murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all go back?" grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to Project Gutenberg-tm works. pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. have had none more fantastic than this." "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, flock.' follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself to tackle the facts." contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were "Well, but China?" figure." "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is as the one I chose?' You can understand that this register and diary may implicate Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting think that he is innocent?" "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and forehead. well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man,