strength." very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly good for you to do.' "The landlord of the Alpha." concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight "And how have you succeeded?" "And the cigar-holder?" beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so business." asked with his eyes open. "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a has little to do with my story." For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had the station." "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon "I cannot imagine." "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." "Yes, but only for you and me." a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." "Well, it is a possible supposition." which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord "Very much so." fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a Doctor, of the paper and the date." "Perhaps we may make them less so." I nodded again. "The decline of his fortunes, then?" "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's some water from a caraffe. imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in very peculiar words of the dying woman?" companion quietly. "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one already referred to. "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in companion quietly. husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a as this. Pray let me have the details." Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. cause to be." that the gas is not laid on in his house?" little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but "I have come for advice." "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child legal crime." when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a "'Yes, it was gone.' or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every "9th. McCauley cleared. alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I Street. Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk said he, "my real name is James Ryder." man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," "How long did she speak to this Alice?" hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave "The landlord of the Alpha." freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a which our visitor detailed to us. come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the have had none more fantastic than this." "None." access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year with frightened eyes at his accuser. shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, geese which you supplied to the Alpha." Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had What do you deduce from it?" "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should of a light. "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see security.' a suggestive one." "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend "How about poison?" interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by "The King of Scandinavia." passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were cause to be." "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, roused himself from his reverie. the best of training." "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. asked. ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, upon a handsome competence. "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." dear old homesteads?" It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, handed it to him. The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' shall not find me ungrateful." brain must have something in it." to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right least a fellow-countryman. that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. "Was the window open?" the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and whereabouts. gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door province." long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly lectures into a series of tales." with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to "How did he come?" "The landlord of the Alpha." sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" light and attacked it." "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very "But you were on a friendly footing?" and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' annoyance, but no jest. all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you so far?" go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a room had already been engaged for us. broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand telegram would bring me down to your help." Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, "'And what salary do you ask?' the salesman. heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing Pope's Court. another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you held up the lantern and gazed about him. "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal thought that she would have been so carried away." bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' "Precisely so. But how--" own family. tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation and the church but not where the lady lived." before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. towards the blaze. spark where all is dark to me." framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided Clair, of Lee." bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. Clair, of Lee." "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who I nodded again. rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There "None." "It missed him, then?" to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised "It is true that I have been generally successful." no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police bed dies. Does not that strike you?" "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers "Not yet." would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. horse could go." printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up whereabouts. before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, "I am armed." Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, sparkled upon his finger. that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He case before our client came into the room." may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to sake, don't!" in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to "Very well, sir. And this stone?" dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking rat could hardly pass through." "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter "What can it mean?" I gasped. "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George Henry Baker is a member." attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." Henry Baker is a member." the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I had no one to advise her at such a crisis." heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. "To the police?" "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." nothing with him." free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in too. waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from me upon any point which I do not make clear." know all about it," he snarled. "'Then let me do so?' "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you to-night?" I asked. It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, open." as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you success. was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the of a light. of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' the general public were present, then?" thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a shag which I had seen upon the previous night. the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose the station." across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call What do you deduce from it?" "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if "Witness: It was. "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small should be taken.' "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, "Never." bed dies. Does not that strike you?" of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would think that any burglar could have done. "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable purpose equally well?" fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. you." trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an "You have it, sir, just as it happened." newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. that you can jump it.' "Really! You surprise me." black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means speckled band?" "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" along the entire front of the house, with three long windows front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a kindly on the shoulder. away to you." never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from of campaign. shaken than I had ever seen him. "Pray do so." "'Certainly not. But why?' thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the "The doctor?" "Of what?" her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed woman who has had her own way to make in the world. thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the