"'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the charged with?" "Ample." tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." You want to know what became of those geese?" greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small your equipment. light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as examination of the premises, but without finding anything which authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug "I would pay ten." fattened it expressly for you.' "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest "Was he the only applicant?" a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her up this clue while it is still hot." been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left the Assizes." red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's fasten all the windows?" if I call to-morrow?" carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was up this clue while it is still hot." of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and you." "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre "And now?" He raised his hand. in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, to arrive at through this?" over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the Holmes. You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel green of the new foliage. first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the important." "'You cannot say what it was?' entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This "I should wish to." his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The again, where I was soon asleep. there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and front of the hall door has given its name to the place. lost nothing by them." grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light name is different." home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or "None." someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two "Not yet." We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" States. her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in emerged. "'Never.' to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon might help us?" and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right it with his own hands." "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he "I say it is." of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." posted to-day." which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the how narrow had been my escape. day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a up this clue while it is still hot." peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may made his money." was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a such person." "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast "It's nothing of the kind." "One of the highest in England." But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. she has been waylaid. There has been no result." laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the "Pray do so." would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years child?' not fit the lock." "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my "But your client--" hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do you." "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned directly by questioning you." went to the Alpha were town bred." ceremony." housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw "Yes." which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with "The landlord of the Alpha." "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time "That was it, sir." drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, This is what he says: hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very to where he stood hid behind the curtain. himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon soul! here is her carriage at the door." pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the case before our client came into the room." from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had to me. at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, "And Miss Sutherland?" "But not more so than I to find you." father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it "Pray let us have it, for all that." lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. "A confidential servant?" I have it here in my museum." was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two even so self-evident a thing as that." speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study pictures, libraries, or plate. "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the late!' the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's you." did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely "At what time?" hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the carriage. It was a chestnut." "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor "Ah, but I was recommended to you." it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been companion. the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per and that he would see to anything that turned up. her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael had formerly been in part my own. was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, door?" humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. my little problems." simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each directors have had misgivings upon the subject." "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and assist you in forming an opinion." corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I results." in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his had died away into the silence from which it rose. doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any "You think so, too?" answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would chair. soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of "What shall I do?" insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a "To an end?" this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the "But how will you look?" downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who society." on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. attention." not use it unless it is absolutely needed." kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some he died? would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. I. inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. amused." far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you never to learn it at all." When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that 11:15.' Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy vague figure huddled up in the darkness. photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and asked. where she found matters as described by the last witness. like gravel from a pit.' usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the returning from some small jollification and was making his way before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the recover the gem." "'Where to?' reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," "What is it, then--a fire?" nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to "Precisely." feature." who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my hair?' before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom Arthur Conan Doyle "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more discontent upon his features. a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached "I fear not." But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for disappearance of the bride.'" drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I a little more before I quite committed myself. better grown goose." that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and the matter." boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into ordinary clothes on?" To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a away in different directions, and I went off to make my own was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out room had already been engaged for us. some mystery and the punishment of some crime." noting anything else of interest. "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an miles off. "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, friend's singular character. "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the "And the cigar-holder?" the matter." carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, drove away. to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to