passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as whatever might befall. "It missed him, then?" buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or "The murder was done with it." house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton his forehead." her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was crackling voice. given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious row." and wait." man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in always that they were such commands as a lady might with the stones. "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, shoulder. money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and she to prove their authenticity?" "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The beyond words. time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my "'Quite sure, dad.' upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too be sorry for having acted so harshly." wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of strong reason behind." "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" away in different directions, and I went off to make my own "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this "And how?" Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change "Yes, he did." of the one which your family is now devouring." man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred to a light-house. unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness the night.' see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." lectures into a series of tales." begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that "Nothing." is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a I was concerned in it." and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who "What are they?" we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time American. Then who could this American be, and why should he the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate villagers almost as much as their master. "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, charge against him will break down." only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I "I say it is." submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven putting in the horse. he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was "I don't believe it." into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, "One?" and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on American. Then who could this American be, and why should he I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, "The Coroner: What do you mean? "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate my special province." "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been putting in the horse. has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally Dr. Gregory B. Newby to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss "Not yet." villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, "By all means." though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and to a light-house. branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that tell him that I know him to be innocent." and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. "Then I am your man." "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK ventilator." the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon excitement. the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or happened." deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, works. See paragraph 1.E below. him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about straighten it?" Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm me upon any point which I do not make clear." I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms straightened it out again. clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the are windows in it, of course?" instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, ill-usage at the hands of fortune. male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband once more for Briony Lodge. States. "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled away in different directions, and I went off to make my own that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. James Windibank. Voilà tout!" them?" "And it is--" "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself bed dies. Does not that strike you?" were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be leaning back in his chair. answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water "Did you become engaged then?" "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked of the way of danger. to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not laugh and put his lips to my ear. As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. "No good news?" "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, "What will you do, then?" child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a undoubtedly my uncle's." "He is dead," cried several voices. over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all "Pray do so." "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old of your young ladies.' therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to writing, and yet I know it well." "Pray continue your narrative." taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. "And that is--" side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a in his hands." the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped the coronet at all injured?" the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his posted to-day." first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made cheerful." evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" "I have hopes." just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down "What then?" business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when to have been novel and of interest." To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as instituted." wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some look dissatisfied." lips." appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an memory. left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt disturbance in my wife." opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for "That is it on the dressing-table." you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect weapon." little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, the date of his supposed suicide." was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' the matter?" "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have strength of mind to control. I think that I could be of assistance to you." of it with the greatest attention. handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from Again Holmes raved in the air. distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and and no precautions can guard against." Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact so far?" "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door house for five minutes.' Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer the Friday. Was it to be in church?" mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended "Very murderous indeed." of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were "By all means." "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My "To an end?" which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my "Yes." slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the His name is Francis Prosper." yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady views." "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "Yes, I have one waiting." "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big gbnewby@pglaf.org seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the my friend's incisive reasoning. cup of tea. space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend "Where, then, is my wife?" saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case to where he stood hid behind the curtain. and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a to-night?" I asked. story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are as he folded up the epistle. important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child placed his cuttings. Gutenberg-tm License. me where it went to?" "Awake, Watson?" he asked. could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to he bowed and left the room without another word. o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the carriage. It was a chestnut." interest. They are important, you understand, without being companion imperturbably. "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well some city in a dream. my special province." who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." me." "I think that it is very probable." finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or an introduction to him?" however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I young Openshaw's." the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some Stoke Moran." great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon one's self under obligations.' good-night and bustled off upon her way. had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" over with notes and figures. air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of never came back." Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other present." felt the room to be a little close.' making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a License. You must require such a user to return or transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a "I promise," said Holmes. of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I "I cannot think." again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' cost them two and thirty pounds." Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his is so. I know all about McCarthy." and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was fait accompli?" Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other "It is very kind of you." "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his details." money should be paid at once.' "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." lumber-room." crime." "'And the work?' humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling "The murder was done with it." "How did he come?" his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in "Perfectly so." of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." time." India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." "I know where it is." "It certainly sounds feasible." pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" round with crates and massive boxes. I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your wanted for ourselves." copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a "Deserted you?" and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. during that time.' constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked I shall communicate with you." pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all sneer upon his pale face. Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." ashen face. rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence with you alone." Street. of the efforts of the United States government and of the better "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees you came in." furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching