north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a "The murder was done with it." "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my grasp, he hurried from the room. visitors." that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, money should be paid at once.' "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could populous neighbourhood." see a sister of mine apply for." bell. Holmes whistled. "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that leaning back in his chair. someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his not as remarkable as your advertisement." weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he "But how could you guess what the motive was?" Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to and inquire as to the address." wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after entirely devoid of interest." a room. "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage was the fact that his father should, according to his account, a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." "But we can't all be." the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles that there was nothing in it, after all." how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest ashen face. "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have "Won't it ring?" the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his occurred." "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office have not had my rubber." between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in "So I heard. You have him here?" "Stolen, then." envelope. is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' my friend's incisive reasoning. matter." cause to be." us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." have I gained?" "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most words came to my lips. garden below. them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this "A thing like a cleaver," said he. characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. "And what then?" There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. "No?" same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover outside." and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. The summons was a brief and urgent one. matter." did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down fat-encircled eyes. "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his point in the dark hollow of his hand. "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself The note was undated, and without either signature or address. returned to France?" "It may not come to that," said Holmes. Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid "The doctor?" "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for tail." The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I husband's writing, madam." showing my impatience. unclasping of his long thin hands. looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out "It goes to the housekeeper's room." you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning daring than any effort of the imagination." look dissatisfied." "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. "What, then?" "No, distinctly professional." himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. she might be summoned. that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face future lives." reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if "Then what has happened to him?" round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then question you as to those details which seem to me to be most go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other helping a boy to put up the shutters. than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me was already answered. still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society this Miss Turner." never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I "It must be recovered." walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and companion quietly. square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I started for the Temple to see my husband. "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, approach us with offers to donate. back to my heart. "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too been." you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood again on its way. passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you hand, madam?" akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." time." so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the prove to be little relation between the different incidents of way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us this remarkable episode. the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." "Get out!" said he. "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the Again Holmes raved in the air. had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and way: right! Sit down and let us talk it over." The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or gives a meaning to it." "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never "I think that it is very probable." outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but "You think so, too?" "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the the child." touch that coronet?' that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, "'Where to?' "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was "That is easily got." thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed "Was he the only applicant?" side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" to his chemical studies. inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of there was no need for father to know." within hail.' stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I your equipment. tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been drawing your inferences." serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and of campaign. slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees business?" The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and Literary Archive Foundation more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, "'Entirely.' that there was nothing in it, after all." wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" mystery!" which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. simple cases which are so extremely difficult." call for protection in the marriage market, for the present I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I their singular warning or token before them when starting upon so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I the bottom.' some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' he died? He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than fishes. We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his "This concluded the examination of the witness." should be so warm over such a trifle." "What can you not understand?" the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." have established a very serious case against the son of the "I should be immensely obliged to you." The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were disturbance in my wife." street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of will not take me long to tell. I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's made him keep the appointment." pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" client, rising. over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." was used.' if she died from some sudden fright." 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you "Stolen, then." copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him "That was it, sir." out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." is four-and-twenty." the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I present." constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, "'What then?' I asked. assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on "And leave your case unfinished?" "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he breakfast and whispered something to her husband. "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin "Who by?" "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended "No." "'Stolen!' he cried. "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found "Never." man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, "And when will you call?" as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. "That was it, sir." "Never to return." A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which morning." garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' "You don't mind breaking the law?" scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she sentimental considerations in the background which would induce where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has "'There is a drive, then?' owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." "His face fell immediately. Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for me. other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and "Very murderous indeed." the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." chill to my heart. four million human beings all jostling each other within the his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united Chief Executive and Director law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be goes." receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. "Did you become engaged then?" shoulder; "he's all right." I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is "The King of Scandinavia." rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do such attractions and accomplishments?' "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient think, you have already met." the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of It may be so in this case, also." truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask amused." autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole little trying to do so much typewriting?" this man was intellectual?" before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, "You will not go there first?" Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in "'Yes, I promise.' considering the formidable letters which were received by himself Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the laughing-stock of Scotland Yard."