they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a "I think that I had better go, Holmes." suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed matters immensely." "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone of your young ladies.' glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen you?" top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she "It may not come to that," said Holmes. was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the him to be an active member of the medical profession." to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, "'Never,' said I. "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed together. are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I entirely devoid of interest." to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, together. door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. "I don't say that. Perhaps." see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all Foundation hereditary King of Bohemia." "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which forecastle of an emigrant ship. Holmes rather sternly. considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more him nearly every evening." Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, woven round him. shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and unprecedented a position." his eyes and forehead. judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a dramatic, in fact." pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with "Which surely he restored to their owner?" propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation "But she will refuse." my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the Edgeware Road. outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by "'What are you doing there?' he asked. "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its unclasping of his long thin hands. pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with unprecedented a position." more terrible than the truth. these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one "How about poison?" railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat not fit the lock." I held the little printed slip to the light. Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of "No." refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who spare." compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." everything which you would wish to know." "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. Eyford at 11:15.' "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." tell them apart.' vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I the dangers which encompass me." as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private "Perfectly so." "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was "No, distinctly professional." "An accident, I presume?" Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the name is different." the devil!" have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, the matter." the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and them, and came down just as you departed. as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who Lestrade of Scotland Yard." and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink "Then I can wait in the next room." "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." "You did not overhear what they said?" "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress conclusions. "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have side. "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time "And what did you see?" took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice http://gutenberg.net/license). values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the persecution?" away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He "And is that all?" few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: until night should bring an explanation. no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, "I never have." in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear became a certainty. As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe "But to whom?" WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his "And now?" He raised his hand. with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What "No. What a strange idea!" husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not get her out of the way." Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make "Where to?" strode off upon his way. subject to the trademark license, especially commercial iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my DAMAGE. were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an in my life." "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the "One of the highest in England." wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always nothing of it?" "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and really the only notable feature about the thing." "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how there when the Rucastles went away." All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found the coronet at all injured?" a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an nonsense.' up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut in his hands." showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have I nodded again. "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' "None." he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." "What, then?" fire. You quite follow me?" spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. "You horrify me." upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came directly by questioning you." strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless cost them two and thirty pounds." have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that a room. into the bag, and made for the door. to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." approach us with offers to donate. green of the new foliage. foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." "It certainly sounds feasible." sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use "And I say east," said my patient. appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, now. It seems that there had been some informality about their "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made "What can you not understand?" round with crates and massive boxes. human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" article?" "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their "Where to?" "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy joking. "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of to arrive at through this?" muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might "Why, what do you mean?" he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. for its centre. "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its in the hope of finding them." I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of disappearance of these gems?" "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The burst out into a roar of laughter. "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a and prosperity to your house. Good-night." "Imitated." the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It my little problems." "Precisely." he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. "But he might be a bachelor." quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, "Pray do so." goes." Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was the coronet at all injured?" property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that "Bought." it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to things are very often connected not with the larger but with the home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is "Whose house is it?" cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must I shall communicate with you." rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so and all of them with the keenest interest. day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a entirely devoid of interest." southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be papers diligently of late, have you not?" can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door a suggestive one." vague figure huddled up in the darkness. evidence," I remarked. It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." tell them apart.' address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the You want to know what became of those geese?" gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of strength." might have a private word with us. "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If "I am following you closely," I answered. "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. past. "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with prove to be little relation between the different incidents of right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both "I will not look." instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a became a certainty. you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" to that open window." "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her you." you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed "But what harm can there be in that?" in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have gives a meaning to it." Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, ways of our fellow-men." good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place "But what is it you wish?" everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a a monotonous occupation." "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's "You saw the ventilator, too?" "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. "Where did you address your letters, then?" up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an the child." severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." murdered man." into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. the night.' "The Coroner: What do you mean? in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch "I am in hopes that she does." charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and lost nothing by them." would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has made his money." relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it right! Sit down and let us talk it over." six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' other, as fresh and trim as possible. journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining