"'Most admirably.' King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to Street. "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, handed it to him. "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" was a lad." from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. said Mr. Holder. The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a "Yes, it was twisted." have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many again on its way. people don't know." "It missed him, then?" "No. His orders were to stay in the house." It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and companion quietly. than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was the south-west, I see." heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, Lee, in the county of Kent." might have a private word with us. "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be page at http://pglaf.org over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no "What!" he roared. sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of 1.F. my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my to-night." answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by that I may have something better before very many minutes are suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." as yours." Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at never will be, entirely cleared up. pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since said Mr. Holder. "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that "I guessed as much." "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to wedding?" in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out the address that was given us in the advertisement. works. See paragraph 1.E below. I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by I was concerned in it." rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. "It certainly sounds feasible." and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was absorbing." "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad in one or two places in England?' of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who again, where I was soon asleep. "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police down. some mystery and the punishment of some crime." their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He "'What, the red-headed man?' shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him was the fact that his father should, according to his account, opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do to tackle the facts." the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the "Not him." "Come in!" said Holmes. like that before?" waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather do." "But of what society?" cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when "Pray tell us what has happened to you." "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so "And who is her maid?" have not had my rubber." in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a allusion to a rat. About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have maiden herself was most instructive." "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a "It must be recovered." "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can "Did your wife hear all this?" year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. round and wave him away like that.' The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened unclasping of his long thin hands. lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited own family. offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. "And it is--" "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached little trying to do so much typewriting?" shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I that I am arrested." "How did you trace it, then?" practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many used to be." See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear salesman. gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and spark where all is dark to me." any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the tell him that I know him to be innocent." "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter "Your presence might be invaluable." "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, six. Come in!" tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a "And the murderer?" and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be against a man in the prime of life?" giving me time to thank him. Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the "Yes. He waved his hands." "Then you may entirely rely on me." may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the I shall continue with my miserable story. head. So long, then!" the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I "I cannot imagine." at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate of them has the shutters up.' "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round question. absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing was shining brightly. which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward hands. "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be Doctor, of the paper and the date." carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the in. "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have "And is that all?" "That is possible." nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. burst out into a roar of laughter. it were putty." their singular warning or token before them when starting upon still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All "Ah, but I was recommended to you." dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases "My own seal." sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here must be when I saw the door open.' corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. which was all perfectly true. Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a thought that she would have been so carried away." "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in depend upon your compliance." comes from the middle window." you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." over here." that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, society." "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back "I warn you that they are very incomplete." tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that "Nothing?" among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is "Never to return." deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still of a light. "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and "No. His orders were to stay in the house." "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said everything which you would wish to know." "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and tell them apart.' of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and "'Certainly,' I answered. "It is possible." considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no "'A dozen yards or so.' and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in read over the extraordinary announcement. Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning should be taken.' "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I developed." was not a bird to be seen there. devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey from the brougham. reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and this man was intellectual?" "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the "And now?" He raised his hand. untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but "To ruin me." was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black crime. his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, read it out to me." "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, perplexity from it to my illustrious client. were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us suspect him." cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." the Red-headed League." one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a "But she could not love him." over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this look upon these things in a different way." "Nothing?" "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the young Openshaw's." "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a than was visible to me." still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from "You have it, sir, just as it happened." one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes said he. and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" papers on the sundial.'" "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, may never be exposed to such a temptation." but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already what these perils are?" Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his points to suicide?" "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most "But how?" box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say the inner apartment." all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. over here." habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done "This photograph!" myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself cost them two and thirty pounds." Sutherland?" "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" "You have but to name it." purpose equally well?" the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend unclasping of his long thin hands. too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it "Absolutely none." "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was "No. His orders were to stay in the house." nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; was the fact that his father should, according to his account, appeal." inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do "Yes, only one." than was visible to me." and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire upon the sideboard." "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did you give your casting vote to?" "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is unprofitable." light and attacked it." I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl already been minutely examined." and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to me upon any point which I do not make clear." roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear "It was." "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the "'Entirely.' "By train from Waterloo." "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his straighten it?" Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the companion quietly. black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and "I answered that I had not. October 9, 1890. Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from matter over." Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled problems help me to do so." "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards astonishment. other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper your Highness to the police-station?" someone who had been in Australia." luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the in one or two places in England?' prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face really the only notable feature about the thing." I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his "On Monday." rat could hardly pass through." rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. which are rolled in Rotterdam." so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit "'Very good.' "No, my brougham is waiting." schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it "And leave your case unfinished?" "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by "Certainly, madam." "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You "'Is purely nominal.' If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project