result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. "You think so, too?" "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the "Stolen." colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in to some other building. she might be summoned. unprofitable." "I cannot imagine." wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we shoulder; "he's all right." "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass peculiar to him. suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is nice household for a young lady." "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had your sleep?' Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive there." "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, ran thus: arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand enough to aid us in our search." "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" rose-bushes. think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 the house with me." fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw "I will not look." sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? "Yes, it would be as well." "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and rooms." Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security existence." "'There is a drive, then?' applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but "Frequently." becomes even more simple." gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that "Indeed! Whose, then?" description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I in him." after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide which we had just quitted. the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which sparkled upon his finger. "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said prepare for the new role I have to play." could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward "I cannot as yet see any connection." brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I "What office?" this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such "Witness: It was. "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, "Upon what point?" "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the "Here?" hands. our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way power." weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about of campaign. "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for chance at all." held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New "Stoke Moran?" said he. ceremony." fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others "But she could not love him." air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to woman." which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is as he folded up the epistle. "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first "'There is a drive, then?' where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." "From his hat?" weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is very old mansion. "She will not sell." "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried "Will you go?" we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the "Now, then, what's the last entry?" a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. front of me. sound at heart." that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to said he, "my real name is James Ryder." advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain "This concluded the examination of the witness." "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be emerged. conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes and that he would see to anything that turned up. "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, conclusions. room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an his grey eyes. against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the noise which awoke you from your sleep?" it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. "No." up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to business." the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for is entirely a question of barometric pressure." there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to the Assizes." B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are "'Never,' said I. "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips on in his house." offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, only touch the interest." or other trace. But how on earth--" "Stolen." Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of true." deduce something from that?" trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before My friend smiled. round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when upon an income of about 60 pounds." "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up "You heard nothing yourself last night?" and shall probably return to London by the evening train." "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom opened the door, and slipped through. Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and Pope's Court, Fleet Street." have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very "Here?" be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted may never be exposed to such a temptation." from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small unprofitable." "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. "I do." "Imitated." surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with points to suicide?" "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and suggested at once that there must be a communication between the "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' away to you." "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have "Here?" "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. during which he might have communicated with his friend the and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new correct than the official force." matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, seem to you to be relevant or not." learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, stammered. age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." "The Cedars?" would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been "I beg pardon." without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine presented which may be striking and bizarre without being of note-paper. It read in this fashion: than to us. But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought more solid." "Breckinridge is his name." judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love towards the blaze. brandy and water within his reach. been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' "But how could you guess what the motive was?" forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a "I think that it is very probable." "He is still with you, I presume?" "You horrify me." other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because forebodings. the night.' and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly "Frequently." front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." "What then?" right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly one of the states of the Union." the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. green of the new foliage. assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was "'Stolen!' he cried. "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought stepfather?" been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to "The rest you will leave in our hands." only touch the interest." desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such had picked up in the wood. For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which one else, I think." with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you shadow pass over his face as I spoke. weary and pale-looking. "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open "I cannot tell." Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you made him keep the appointment." of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At during the last few years, and there are many noble families to elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out "It was an hour's good drive." happened." these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." Have you good authority for what you say?" in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each "None." performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works pound a week." located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from "No, I had a dozen." "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had really the only notable feature about the thing." been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a "Did he not advertise?" thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly "They are typewritten," I remarked. "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire been." trifles." when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the "What then?" and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he heavily into it. that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have gigantic client. "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other prepare for the new role I have to play." distance from the station, and there we found the young lady had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining ago." Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most wedding?" the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest learned something! Where are the gems?" His name is Francis Prosper." whether it answered to the description of any of their should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the never will be, entirely cleared up. "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One more terrible than the truth. perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some his face. we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital "Pray do so." "An enemy?" takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the not personally threatened." white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" "Yesterday." me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no leave you to your papers for a little." Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my him!" the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. colonel looking down at me. from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he likely to be some crony of the landlady's." LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR article?" give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from fatally injured? folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact lumber-room." tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, "Yes." explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private eavesdroppers?' I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily call for protection in the marriage market, for the present "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch villagers almost as much as their master. question," said Holmes, smiling. "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud them present such singular features as the strange train of