"What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a of the vacancies.' "You have the photograph?" outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at "Thank you. And your address?" keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. together. since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever if I call to-morrow?" stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was over here." in darkness. have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo gone. absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was woman." "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place "'I have already given you my word.' a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he it." had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story in the hope of finding them." word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and "Yes." locked. cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that have got?" was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban "He might." of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." mysterious end." and looked back. Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside "None." air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the had no one to advise her at such a crisis." really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the "At what time?" upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We "Ha! you find it so?" the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning heavily into it. "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in the station." a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a in his hands." "Yes, I have one waiting." imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them down. refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when "And what then?" article?" clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not would then never go into court at all." common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked is a common subject for conversation. "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. maid will bring up your coffee." 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood carriage. It was a chestnut." there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and served to weaken the effect. of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had one's self under obligations.' the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was "How on earth--" "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort "That is unusual in a young girl." deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an the so-precious time, but come!' prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy four million human beings all jostling each other within the I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and retorted upon me, and I on you." at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just present." John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going and inquire as to the address." Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest infinite languor in his face. once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into cigars in their mouths. your own bird, so if you wish--" relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, his eyes and forehead. words came to my lips. all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have "But how could you guess what the motive was?" I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the thin, with a long, sharp nose?" Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the shadow pass over his face as I spoke. listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he tell him that I know him to be innocent." "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in just called myself is not exactly my own." because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are bed dies. Does not that strike you?" "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said paper in the air. "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot "We have tried and failed." the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not gone. transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three details should find their way into the papers. Inspector leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, your most interesting statement." pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, 'please.'" hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that which should have the effect of calling the attention of the three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was "She showed me, as I told you she would." "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel for its centre. fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of 'please.'" I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through "Bought." agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is "What, then, did Peterson do?" you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it who was a member of your goose club." "A confidential servant?" contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until "Yes, sir." office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two "It is very clear." Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is "And what did you learn from him?" very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his down in his armchair and closing his eyes. "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by floor. "Witness: I must still refuse. go from here to the Strand." were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't "That is easily got." and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local "But it has twice been burgled." "No, finished." that?' window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the "When did it break out?" thin, with a long, sharp nose?" grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite had formerly been in part my own. would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting call it cruel." window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. once more for Briony Lodge. "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to "And your father? Did you tell him?" there!' you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, "But what is it you wish?" vague figure huddled up in the darkness. that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch the running down." unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in "I am following you closely," I answered. "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to perplexity from it to my illustrious client. "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I chair. husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those "I will do it." to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms think you a quite exceptional woman." belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. Leave Paddington by the 11:15." him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and do." http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg himself to hunt down. fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have "'Yes, it was gone.' following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in appeared upon the scene." "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the was the fact that his father should, according to his account, "And is that all?" the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, "No, distinctly professional." true." "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. "But how?" impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little with some details as to your case." circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. wall." It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on house for five minutes.' "My dear Holmes!" engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the DAMAGE. I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with children over to America with him, so that I found myself without she used." "'Ten to two.' bears upon the case?" three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the matter." there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this James Windibank. Voilà tout!" breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and hardly wander." be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and the bed, and you in that chair." the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch "He said that you could solve anything." "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and strode off upon his way. down from London to inquire more deeply into it." common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." "'I am sure that I do not know.' business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." breakfast." "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done ceremony." serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the "It is half-past ten now." "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case I leave." "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the "We have tried and failed." preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the was a loud and authoritative tap. "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point amused." Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and a monotonous occupation." sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. open." from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone must compliment you." its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. you for a few hours?" Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with the inner apartment." know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the never will be, entirely cleared up. can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in It may be so in this case, also." her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, "Was the window open?" soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' "I am sure." through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to the roots. continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps "Not social, then?" "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very may have an influence upon European history." Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the four million human beings all jostling each other within the traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going mystery." side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and out." the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to call for it in person on Monday morning.' may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. "Yes, that is the Crown." "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a breakfast?" of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. interest. They are important, you understand, without being "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' said he. case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than