them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. Project Gutenberg-tm works. and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, could gather together that I was able to avert another public young Openshaw's." must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I the warnings." astonishment. the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a attention." "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same weighed down with some great anxiety. "My opinion is in no way altered." "By train from Waterloo." "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided gone. happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day "No, distinctly professional." as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must at home. "What will you do, then?" "Yes, sir." at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united horse could go." "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. the Assizes." subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of business." shall not find me ungrateful." was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' "I am in hopes that she does." one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady "But to whom?" electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in again on its way. knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the official police." to Leatherhead. "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent true." Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I "In answer to an advertisement." in his hands." housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back to tackle the facts." very peculiar words of the dying woman?" "That is possible." came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now whole matter to your consideration." With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' right! Sit down and let us talk it over." Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, "Perhaps we may make them less so." investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. "And now?" He raised his hand. lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your "You are all wrong." him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It to surprise her." should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and "At the wedding breakfast." "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him read it out to me." served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, writers could invent nothing more crude." "Yes, there are nearly always some there." to that open window." only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the of." but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you "And it is--" "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only "No, thank goodness, she did not." until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his "No." "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that least a most suspicious remark." rooms." you?' better in every way that they should make their position a little glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you "It is possible." papers must be those that are destroyed.' "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to "Will you go?" "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, "What I expected to see." interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. gigantic client. window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." during that time.' said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though seven miles from Eyford Station.' His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering one else, I think." distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of will find little credit to be gained out of this case." "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, "Precisely." 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in "Who by?" red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old is," said he presently: his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" once more to my work. village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain "Not particularly." guilty one." "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous and files of the old papers, following the future career of every having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my might have a private word with us. tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, James Windibank. Voilà tout!" "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a some place of shelter and let the county police know what has about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we business." "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is cost them two and thirty pounds." traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. God! What an exposure! What can I do?" everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord From what you have told me I think that it is possible that "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as before, for it was considerably after midnight. "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the go--none." "'And what are they worth?' I asked. so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. "Tired-looking or fresh?" "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" "Murdered?" the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what words came to my lips. "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss perplexity from it to my illustrious client. "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted lids now and glanced across at his visitor. of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in horse could go." Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in "And your mother is alive?" five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" yourselves in at night?" dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest straighten it?" until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those indiscretion." "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal "It is to him that this trophy belongs." 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. I shall continue with my miserable story. that I may have something better before very many minutes are "Yes, they were peculiar boots." towards the blaze. unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the "A call for help, you thought?" "The landlord of the Alpha." to a light-house. furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the "I saw her in conversation with her maid." asked. could gather together that I was able to avert another public fishes. The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" "The rest you will leave in our hands." dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" redistribution. impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are happened." before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. "I will do it." like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: invisible to me," I remarked. of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced that, and I came down." gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in be.' unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told that I may have something better before very many minutes are suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it carried out of court." despair." houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided prepare for the new role I have to play." looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which asked with his eyes open. "I will not look." souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the "That is unusual in a young girl." machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat II. "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told "BALLARAT." "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." to tell." The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He time." There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside sake, don't!" responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her ordinary clothes on?" comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you how narrow had been my escape. that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black wife's character?" instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the compunction about shooting them down." This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely what I may call a really hard day's work." pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line any." cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather could not account in any way for the presence of the missing his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it as yours." do.' of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of shag which I had seen upon the previous night. pity, because in other respects you would really have done very are, and they are waiting for us." one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but events, Mr. Windibank!" week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week your bag." disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to infinite languor in his face. peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about suggested at once that there must be a communication between the