that you wished to speak to me?' "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's British peeress.'" "And now?" He raised his hand. was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a distance from the station, and there we found the young lady the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the hour?' that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. "I am in hopes that she does." before the coroner and the police-court." "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the "It is very kind of you." hurried away. We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. geese which you supplied to the Alpha." chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me "I cannot tell." will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I "My own seal." hair?' "No, I had a dozen." connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she and prosperity to your house. Good-night." "You don't mind breaking the law?" with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally burst out into a roar of laughter. clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it are, I think, all that we need." my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. companion. "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had "What will you do, then?" them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you which was all perfectly true. matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was of the way of danger. dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. the matter?" "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between "'No, I know no one in these parts.' know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly down in his armchair and closing his eyes. Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum details should find their way into the papers. Inspector the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming I was concerned in it." fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, could go. full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of geese which you supplied to the Alpha." weapon." "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, at once, for I have only half an hour." donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate villagers almost as much as their master. charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." hurried away. and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away the roots. many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of "'Oh, no.' liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was "No more words. Get out!" shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the signal between you and your father? against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he followed. some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the your most interesting statement." together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he way in." "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our His name is Francis Prosper." compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were behind me. You can understand that this register and diary may implicate "Then I do not see the point." bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" "About a month then." me." "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, "When did she vanish, then?" impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And the Friday. Was it to be in church?" "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of "'How far from the body?' "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It "Which are?" me what he had done with the three missing stones. call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his "One?" banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the go--none." think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! friend's singular character. had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. "On Monday." explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. "You horrify me." I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive house for five minutes.' concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" digesting their breakfasts at home." "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural instincts rose up against that laugh. position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps The note was undated, and without either signature or address. conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom him to be an active member of the medical profession." just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon "Ample." all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must asked. by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open "Oh, fresh and glossy." to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were yet." strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the October 9, 1890. the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. of Fenchurch Street." going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old "It surprised me." "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of "Yes, sir." which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter yourselves in at night?" "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was "Then I do not see the point." it with his own hands." groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was followed. too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each bell. Holmes whistled. down. I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the "Nothing?" "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to drawing your inferences." you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the indeed happy." his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, to miss it." "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the upon a handsome competence. I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the power." came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. thin, with a long, sharp nose?" 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" long narrative. family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she "'What are you doing there?' he asked. that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would "He might." Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I him, that man would not have given me such complete information Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. she used." possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your "You forget that I know nothing about it." "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my conceal it?" in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, attention." "Yes, from Horsham." again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural place, I think that there is good ground to think that the overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, there." back alive. ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the 'please.'" "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It mystery may be cleared along those lines." probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands introspective fashion. the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a "He disappeared so suddenly." home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at "How long did she speak to this Alice?" everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get who was a member of your goose club." "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" cause to be." whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his the Friday. Was it to be in church?" "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it "'Very good.' searched, without anything being found which could incriminate the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's "I shall most certainly do so." had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." "No, my brougham is waiting." "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, and capable of preserving a secret.' adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this she to prove their authenticity?" "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is nothing of it?" leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in For additional contact information: believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his "How did you deduce the select?" "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be "That also I could fathom." and looked back. fishes. "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you help us in this matter." equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. Surrey." quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the never came back." petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day placed his cuttings. becomes even more simple." thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a that?' "An enemy?" forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no sparkled upon his finger. such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the of receipt of the work. against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the you." sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could if only as a check to my own memory." following enigmatical notices: "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black be.' between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw shadow pass over his face as I spoke. door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as side. groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a with the outside air!" "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." and no precautions can guard against." open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment Surrey." temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is villagers almost as much as their master. Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are "'Ten to two.' charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." despaired of." "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair she has been waylaid. There has been no result." "She will not sell." 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed quick march!" just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he business." hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our breakfast." "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her obstinate." upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring than was visible to me." "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." asked. great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far "I cannot as yet see any connection." buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" "I was certainly surprised to find you there." who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I me have 200 pounds?' writing, and yet I know it well." phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime