mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate and it need not interfere very much with one's other "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The there was no need for father to know." retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he "Awake, Watson?" he asked. you." were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous ran thus: "I say that I have solved it." Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman hand, madam?" "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend your most interesting statement." to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. individual and becomes the badge of a society." his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic if she died from some sudden fright." once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We "But what will you do?" What do you deduce from it?" stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you in his hands." it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not relation between them, and what the object of his repeated was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales meant it for the best. his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place "Yes." the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed I approached. "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," with you alone." the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were "In heaven's name, what for?" "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door is so. I know all about McCarthy." outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my "'Not at all. I only doubt--' interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, I took the paper from him and read as follows: perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of "He might." settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled bird of prey. "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said were new raised from a basin. many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There ran thus: if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of "Why did you beat the pavement?" lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out "BALLARAT." "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in before, for it was considerably after midnight. Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was tell me that you intended to go into harness." astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind "It is very kind of you." "I am sure." me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, been." creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and the south-west, I see." many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from his wife has ceased to love him." "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make yet." finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me "I saw her in conversation with her maid." locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would read it out to me." whatever might befall. like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, I nodded again. ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We you." "Yes, sir." Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a the side-table." "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. "What of the rat, then?" "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and see me here to avoid scandal." I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. the inner apartment." "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will foresight and the moral retrogression?" us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. strange features which were associated with the two crimes which instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune "My own seal." was it brought him the coronet? as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his strode off upon his way. may have an influence upon European history." a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his felt the room to be a little close.' "'How far from the body?' Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the galvanised. "You heard nothing yourself last night?" cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. said he. so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at "'Yes.' I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of politicians who had been sent down from the North. and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time Again Holmes raved in the air. in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a my special province." labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham You want to know what became of those geese?" so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more ashen face. request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other been." weighed down with some great anxiety. Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my detective. gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern back to my heart. breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose you?' "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a fasten all the windows?" "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' she used." frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his "And now?" I asked. Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her investigation." must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I way in." crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for "No, I think that I'll take it." step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you suggested at once that there must be a communication between the "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any outsides of the windows. so far?" "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of but preventing her from injuring another. Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself mystery." without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he easy-going way." conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to "'Oh, no.' vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will address. with some details as to your case." although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman "Not in the least." brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to it means?" street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler peculiar to him. attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was "It is solved." arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon to arrive at through this?" careless servant girl?" cigar and let me expound." as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful down. forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. "It looks newer than the other things?" he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without residence of the great financier. were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the "Will you bet, then?" determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed letters?" what I may call a really hard day's work." quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I down. with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the to me. cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then The summons was a brief and urgent one. "It goes to the housekeeper's room." copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. morning." unkempt, staring out at me. though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said up this clue while it is still hot." I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of copied or distributed: we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I have been better. It is all right." "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an "They are typewritten," I remarked. very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." the station." gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." said he, "my real name is James Ryder." card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom "Very murderous indeed." This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. "A confidential servant?" believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think waste of energy." dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such God! What an exposure! What can I do?" younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been are, I think, all that we need." "And how?" "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. name is different." which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are helping a boy to put up the shutters. "'In my own bureau.' glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. know all about it," he snarled. myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out "Yes, I have one waiting." Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting But Holmes shook his head gravely. quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do fact, we may call it conclusive." son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate tassel actually lying upon the pillow. job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter "'About the same.' of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project himself in a perplexing position. look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual "In what way?" asked Holmes. about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw written, and locked the door of the office after me. superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a me upon any point which I do not make clear." suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. three fields round his house, and there he would take his "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name "How did you deduce the select?" a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we the iron safe, which he closed upon it. have been better. It is all right." of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal sneer upon his pale face. "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not wedding?" think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all than was visible to me." house for five minutes.' I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any best detective that ever lived. unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar "No." cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been