no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous round and wave him away like that.' "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to of receipt of the work. "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must look dissatisfied." utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this village inn over there?" and inquire as to the address." vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting Henry Baker is a member." "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at without success. At last the little money which I had saved began the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. "Yes, sir." "I am sure." "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the will take you up to see the machine.' across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." sooner or later she must fall a victim. "But I am all in the dark." do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, page at http://pglaf.org of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this "Why, it's a dummy," said he. in your London, you will know that the office of the company is suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most in this note: exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of spare." passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with relation between them, and what the object of his repeated photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she "Only as much as we can deduce." "'Ten to two.' reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but note?" posted to-day." views." the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was "May I see it?" small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of "'No, I know no one in these parts.' doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle outbreak?" would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't habit of advancing money.' "None." simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife followed. grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, "I have hopes." an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed I held the little printed slip to the light. "Come in!" said Holmes. and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. "Proceed, then." make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which to surprise her." mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was "Yes." "In what way?" asked Holmes. hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She later, upon the night of May 2nd." "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's "It may not come to that," said Holmes. extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his to affect your life." back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in "Breckinridge is his name." course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring right! Sit down and let us talk it over." his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from Holmes. savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had the driver. Pool. for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. "I don't believe it." "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred "No more words. Get out!" they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. What do you deduce from it?" "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a "Imitated." customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my "Yes, there are nearly always some there." you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. "And when will you call?" Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him "I will do it." "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would "Upon what point?" 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to ran thus: furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in "But your client--" out." "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the "Murdered?" science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with people don't know." my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need power." distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the "And that is--" as this. Pray let me have the details." here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole down. "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to stalked out of the room. Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very them?" Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at second window is the one that I jumped from." his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and "Absolutely?" tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was indiscretion." generous with you in money matters.' "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent sound at heart." Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to of the one which your family is now devouring." Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for "Then you may entirely rely on me." slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. "My opinion is in no way altered." "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. there in twenty minutes." not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of your most interesting statement." annoyance, but no jest. I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet "I am armed." The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you 'I should be able to look after that for you.' It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of I held the little printed slip to the light. It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding the address that was given us in the advertisement. day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you "Two days later this same performance was gone through under remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance gives a meaning to it." human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and the date of his supposed suicide." his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From true." very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper there were one or two details which were new to me. But the notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the thin legs towards the fire. like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear sparkled upon his finger. We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should you?" "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that "And leave your case unfinished?" not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a because she had spent so short a time in this country that she photograph?" repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive where she found matters as described by the last witness. "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a "But how did you gain them?" silent! Oh, he will be silent!' case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an "But you would not advise me to refuse?" "Just look it up, then." which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from "Yes." "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in forecastle of an emigrant ship. we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the It may be so in this case, also." "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving past. heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, again before evening." "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw companion. fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend himself. "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if returned to France?" "I assure you that I am in your hands." used to be." Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a mystery may be cleared along those lines." "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and wanted for ourselves." us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and you in your example." "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. existence." "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the better in every way that they should make their position a little something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, "Indeed! Whose, then?" Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" to change my dress. greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said 'please.'" turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a daring than any effort of the imagination." day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if instituted." Serpentine Avenue. already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would constraint." pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something "Certainly." estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress "'Yes, it was gone.' the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very "What, then, did Peterson do?" unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The together. and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a London for the present?" the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like "And why in hopes?" "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea "Your sister is dead, then?" them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I awkward doing business with an alias." cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips indeed happy." the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well plantation.' could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes the morning and make my own way in the world.' "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable maiden herself was most instructive." "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned "I think it very unlikely." hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note works. See paragraph 1.E below. ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss "No. His orders were to stay in the house." me have 200 pounds?' recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into father's place of business?" twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a little adventures." seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the later, upon the night of May 2nd." law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be "The murder was done with it." "It is possible." where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement "Dirty?" some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. problems help me to do so." you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the "'Ten to two.' "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in I think that I could be of assistance to you." tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who "Pray tell us what has happened to you." the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. trying to your nerves."