certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of me. prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never "Certainly, madam." "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security "But the mystery?" refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been few hundred pounds.' more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin mystery!" 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old Miss Holder?" dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until "She walked into the breakfast-room." "I was mad--insane." stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally had no one to advise her at such a crisis." hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always You can understand that this register and diary may implicate "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. of this gang." pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to foot. astonishment. these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly call for protection in the marriage market, for the present I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining you want, then?' Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the lips." the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by persecution?" into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger "'Stolen!' he cried. "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the "I am still in the dark." "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had "I never have." refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless which our visitor detailed to us. "I don't believe it." characteristics, but those are the more obvious." me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he "Your presence might be invaluable." "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, "Precisely." then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out been with you?" to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our trifles." quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding chemical work which was so dear to him. We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." would then never go into court at all." be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress whatever might befall. Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a infinite languor in his face. here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for flock.' I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle "I am following you closely," I answered. to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a comes from the middle window." the inquest, and which are worth considering." man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the "You have but to name it." Stoke Moran." gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so "But I have heard all that you have heard." central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right I took the paper from him and read as follows: office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and newspaper selections." "Nearly eleven." 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the is acting for the best. Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before "Nothing?" case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. seem to you to be relevant or not." "Two days later this same performance was gone through under We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his the station." believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat 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 maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must she used." said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I again on its way. Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the trying to your nerves." house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I this remarkable episode. to affect your life." King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste pressing in one house as in another. puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in "And you don't know his address?" is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the "The Cedars?" he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no had this final quarrel? head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I murdered man." "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and success. journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm I have it here in my museum." "Certainly." something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for me what he had done with the three missing stones. wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House points in connection with it which never have been, and probably "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a someone who had been in Australia." liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused "Yes, it would be as well." Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He I shall communicate with you." clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the "None. Neville wrote those words." all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and sentimental considerations in the background which would induce lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to "Yes, but only for you and me." full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great "But what harm can there be in that?" bled considerably." paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove had formerly been in part my own. produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what "A client, then?" "Your sister is dead, then?" photograph a cabinet?" walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital "'Where could I find him?' "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, "If I can be of use." copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done and inquire as to the address." smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing your room." *** START: FULL LICENSE *** had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a have been better. It is all right." For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. "To the police?" "Yes." "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as stood on the top of it. far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very "She walked into the breakfast-room." It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and "But what is it you wish?" tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were I think that I could be of assistance to you." whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I of fine shops and stately business premises that they really Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project union?" He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who "An enemy?" troubles have been weighing upon his mind. therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have unprofitable." "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest had died away into the silence from which it rose. brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few door?" believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. was once confined in the cab my mission was practically "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of "No." "How long did she speak to this Alice?" "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones "Yes." Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to "Come in!" said he. "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the "You have carte blanche." business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. and the colonel ushered me in. As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of "And now?" He raised his hand. laugh and put his lips to my ear. cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down any." man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon "She showed me, as I told you she would." discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of "'Certainly not. But why?' and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable dear old homesteads?" "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both vanished into the darkness. constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it "Holmes, the busybody!" instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, "I am to be neutral?" stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her not, dad?" she asked. of receipt of the work. and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger yet." and the colonel ushered me in. crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account details." ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down "I have a cab outside." power." "You'll never persuade me to believe that." "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down "That is not always so easy." of campaign. of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a "Awake, Watson?" he asked. about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." absolutely follow my advice in every respect." of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, "I should wish to." arrangements." Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the "And sit in the dark?" be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in "Quite so. She has her freedom." "You are certainly joking, Holmes." 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us to me. "Certainly." house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by companion. was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing "This concluded the examination of the witness." suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will not as remarkable as your advertisement." feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the "I am to be neutral?" such attractions and accomplishments?' "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I meanly of me." and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of "You don't mind breaking the law?" "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long closing the door. moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely through." "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece anything to do with the matter?" whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the "Precisely." to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of my former friend and companion. could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told "It missed him, then?" which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless "Well, some hundreds of times." stepfather?" on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to "I cannot say that I have." "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" fluttered off among the others. in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think "Who by?" murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no "Will you go?" to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and