"'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little have got?" beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be ways including including checks, online payments and credit card this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the him nearly every evening." can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon the coronet in his hands?" course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' "Then you may entirely rely on me." Dr. Gregory B. Newby once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which upon a handsome competence. time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he ill-usage at the hands of fortune. and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is "But how?" all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. to his chemical studies. One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by thirty. black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in "But we can't all be." not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and and put his glass in his pocket. A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and someone who had been in Australia." round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white "Not I." himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little held up the lantern and gazed about him. "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love "'In my own bureau.' "Was your sister dressed?" "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I green of the new foliage. naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body Henry Baker is a member." delirious. "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony DISSOLVED. from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you only touch the interest." was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him "And why?" active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing one of the states of the Union." slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. call the police, let the police find what they can.' occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." the devil!" she slowly sank and died without having recovered her I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot would then never go into court at all." "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version someone who had been in Australia." my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a letters?" course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was "Precisely." firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching "The gentleman I describe." dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the guilty parties." a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that the loss of it. houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, suggested at once that there must be a communication between the possible that we could bring him back to her? (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project records." Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had "I was sure that I might rely on you." strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the "Of what day?" envelope. in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed Young McCarthy must be got off, however." "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite "That sounds a little paradoxical." The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all "I am sure." "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would "It is very kind of you." "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, the loss of it. are, I think, all that we need." customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country "Witness: I must still refuse. but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. his face. The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating do." the child." floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush prisoner's face. "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by kind enough to tell me what I should do." a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about photograph?" "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my "That's no good." his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it Clair, of Lee." of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." "'What would be the hours?' I asked. should be taken.' had no one to advise her at such a crisis." he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible "You did not overhear what they said?" Holmes' face clouded over. of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and had died away into the silence from which it rose. completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable "What!" he roared. fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' jewels which you have stolen?' "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right amused." Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked and the church but not where the lady lived." on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, "'As governess?' "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns The King stared at him in amazement. size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, your room." emerged. out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you case before our client came into the room." grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, ran thus: "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant "An accident, I presume?" and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking could not have written that. It is the German who is so which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that "He said that you could solve anything." 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can and inquire as to the address." of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" before, for it was considerably after midnight. you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense "No, but the enclosure is." change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be "Nor running a chance of arrest?" and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as to-night?" I asked. and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." weapon." good for you to do.' and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and to take care of herself." now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for him to be an active member of the medical profession." electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a them present such singular features as the strange train of searched, without anything being found which could incriminate means taking possession of that which another person has a prior mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry in one or two places in England?' goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a I took the paper from him and read as follows: acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me "ARAT," I read. "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." "Well, some hundreds of times." will he say when he returns?" "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the "It was an hour's good drive." room. a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. "'Ten to two.' Holmes' thin, eager face. at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar was a loud and authoritative tap. the running down." by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she the armchair which I pushed forward for him. "You heard nothing yourself last night?" leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with in the dead of the night?' and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting "I have come for advice." "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' child?' go--none." humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling "I cannot think." "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see the King without delay." "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" persecution?" "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as woman who has had her own way to make in the world. the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, your co-operation." Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of me what he had done with the three missing stones. "She showed me, as I told you she would." should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies and inquire as to the address." round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while out." to-morrow." is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the Does that suggest anything?" "It goes to the housekeeper's room." which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you it with his own hands." "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have "The Cedars?" light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by "What are they?" will not take me long to tell. hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend "No." made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both "Of what?" "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be upon an income of about 60 pounds." "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost silent! Oh, he will be silent!' knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward nights." "But I have heard all that you have heard." immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest newspaper selections." found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and have established a very serious case against the son of the can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. brandy and water within his reach. Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle "'What do you call purely nominal?' produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is main points of my analysis." sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." case-book, which he consulted. recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their your sleep?' observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who "'You cannot say what it was?' "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the "How did you deduce the select?" exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my and the whole place is in a blaze." the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. "The knees of his trousers." coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his when your master had gone out." was not a bird to be seen there. "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all more solid." woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little closely." His name is Francis Prosper." "Nothing?" which are rolled in Rotterdam." confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently became a certainty. what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and giving me time to thank him. a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There "Ah, but I was recommended to you." It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would "Eh? What was that?" I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have him. pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside if she died from some sudden fright." that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to overpowering excitement and concern. a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the read it out to me." There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? "At the wedding breakfast." open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. me where it went to?" recall any case within my experience which looked at the first this poor creature." "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. "'I have heard so.' difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. "And how did you verify them?" trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old recover the gem." thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her strode off upon his way. them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is late!' "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing very peculiar words of the dying woman?" Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to Sutherland?" "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, "You will not go there first?" large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the