"On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the Eyford at 11:15.' "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. desk. will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and some water from a caraffe. "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so Chief Executive and Director in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an throat." unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" touch that coronet?' in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the walking." "And you can do nothing until then?" The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our The King stared at him in amazement. "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled words came to my lips. rat could hardly pass through." and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us newspaper selections." himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his "No, I had a dozen." fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first room?" Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying may never be exposed to such a temptation." could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to guilty one." questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments passage and a tap at the door. later, upon the night of May 2nd." well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical heavy and sharp instrument." and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very present." "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in some city in a dream. once more. "Perfectly so." the Red-headed League." breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it "My own seal." "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so "My dear Holmes!" assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in back into the street. in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid the Red-headed League." had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were "I would pay ten." told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a read it out to me." train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a information in his hands the value of which he did not himself them present such singular features as the strange train of "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger like gravel from a pit.' "Tired-looking or fresh?" "No." Pool. partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City "Yes, at the mines." the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the and it need not interfere very much with one's other that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's you." "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly some city in a dream. following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was himself to hunt down. the side-table." "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a call the police, let the police find what they can.' chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, "Certainly, madam." "To an end?" violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. photograph?" him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm round with crates and massive boxes. so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a locked." two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there brought there to personate someone, and the real person is "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have "Yes." advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what events than those which have happened in my own family." the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the hard-headed British jury." "I beg pardon." thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and where Mr. Fordham shows you.' relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered Cross for the Continent." "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not "No, I am descending." my secret was safe in his possession. it means?" sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you the inquest, and which are worth considering." "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur woman." case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that affection." "The gentleman I describe." "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of passage and a tap at the door. congratulate you again." "Yes." very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. "What then?" you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be come either from the window or the door. My attention was practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless "'In my own bureau.' what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another you in your example." Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, "Very much so." impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed "'Never,' said I. skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he The telegram which we eventually received came late one night general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice Dr. Gregory B. Newby Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, "Well?" charged with?" "I am still in the dark." heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting "I cannot tell." vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same people don't know." a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a his face. "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from "What do you mean?" it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so the matter?" you want, then?' say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But disturbance in my wife." took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her green of the new foliage. hardly wander." "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. "Yes." "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one to talk it over. "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the "Come in!" said he. of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, guilty parties." locked." Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I recall any case within my experience which looked at the first but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard said Mr. Holder. him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right promised to bring home. outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little "Won't it ring?" "'And the work?' (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back society." broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. "No, I had a dozen." glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for Pool. friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' "I never have." I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional asked. "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps floor. pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, "This photograph!" along the entire front of the house, with three long windows your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up three fields round his house, and there he would take his values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me "Upon what point?" it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me "Yes, but only for you and me." will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do nothing with him." few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a this truth that in these little records of our cases which you retorted upon me, and I on you." himself in a perplexing position. agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of as yours." music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I "What office?" in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was was a loud and authoritative tap. official police." very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is the bed, and you in that chair." said Mr. Holder. "'A dozen yards or so.' if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. least a most suspicious remark." o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other spark where all is dark to me." "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police very morning of my second wedding." in his hands." "I have a cab outside." "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. "Never to return." And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? Holmes' thin, eager face. to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a make me his representative both with the servants and with the accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. during the last few years, and there are many noble families to right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face in the port of London." confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to be best to do. have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. breakfast?" "Of Friday, June 19th." "I shall most certainly do so." "The Coroner: What do you mean? The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. some place of shelter and let the county police know what has Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you footfalls from the street. this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of detective. the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the that I may have something better before very many minutes are "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with just ask you whether you had heard it.' brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote 'please.'" posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), distinguish the words: and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, "'In my own bureau.' should be taken.' and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study children over to America with him, so that I found myself without This is what he says: but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you "Frequently." "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." mysterious business." 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the "I should like to see him very much." the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah "I never have." "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the Where does the thing come from?' which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had "And how in the world did you find them?" "What can you not understand?" it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution own family. drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the house for five minutes.' freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was "It missed him, then?" glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, excitement. and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT "Certainly, madam." Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his The note was undated, and without either signature or address. a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be depend upon my doing so.' set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as