you, my dear young lady?' point in the dark hollow of his hand. "It looks newer than the other things?" forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no gone before you can get him to hospital." "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." open." at a side door. the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes Chief Executive and Director just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, enter into my head. Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in respectable self." "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in "Breckinridge is his name." cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" page at http://pglaf.org round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in "Certainly." "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are ways of our fellow-men." be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for client, rising. "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given very peculiar words of the dying woman?" Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. said I. Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to "Dirty?" "BALLARAT." family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." 'I should be able to look after that for you.' "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will strange features which were associated with the two crimes which "And leave your case unfinished?" works. See paragraph 1.E below. Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third begun to whiten, even as mine has." "'Which dealer's?' in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a "I will get her to show me." either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life important." The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to highroad, where all traces were lost. "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." as he folded up the epistle. "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over has little to do with my story." strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day where she found matters as described by the last witness. you in your example." his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have "I guessed as much." stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds to-night." But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." of fine shops and stately business premises that they really other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing "Very truly yours, "Oh, yes, easily." its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" "'No, I know no one in these parts.' Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary "And how have you succeeded?" "Was the window open?" envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must "Dirty?" his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The II. "'Certainly,' I answered. "Of Friday, June 19th." hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with pierced for earrings?" It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your was feeling which was the fattest.' should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him Does that suggest anything?" Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have written, and locked the door of the office after me. to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." remarked. "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" seem to you to be relevant or not." fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and would then never go into court at all." this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in "Was your sister dressed?" devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden colonel looking down at me. house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a "No, I am descending." probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out ill-usage at the hands of fortune. ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." 'I should be able to look after that for you.' "How did that help you?" ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both Have you good authority for what you say?" Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did furiously. "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether you in your example." pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed "No. His orders were to stay in the house." and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, the stable lane now." intrusion of other matters." double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that "What is it, then--a fire?" reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what "What?" "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the "She told me to ask you." original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a affection." the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall gone. I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. "At what time?" the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the III. plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and felt?" words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" country, and eventually married, without anyone having a other, as fresh and trim as possible. desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows "Did you become engaged then?" view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in she might be summoned. which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers desk. by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from know all about it," he snarled. so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that once more to my work. window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed done what I asked you, Jones?" follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself Street. too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. "Was your sister dressed?" standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our "'Certainly,' I answered. out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds clanging. music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have wedding?" instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my good-night and bustled off upon her way. there is a decided draught." before the coroner and the police-court." Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more "Then I shall certainly come." position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place it were putty." all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this telegram would bring me down to your help." seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, in him." "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It are, and they are waiting for us." London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" promised to bring home. "In what way?" asked Holmes. generous with you in money matters.' greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to the stones. of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' "'Yes, I promise.' the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was clanging. that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin returning from some small jollification and was making his way 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the I think that I could be of assistance to you." rat could hardly pass through." watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of burst into a hearty fit of laughter. was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" security.' end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of her also." Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case even of instruction." "But to whom?" "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your "Never." 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one "You are all wrong." you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? room had already been engaged for us. a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of mystery!" lost nothing by them." tapping his fingers upon the table. kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You into the room. seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been "Then the page we have seen--" Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that "'About the same.' 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself crime. "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for Heh?' twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten "I know where it is." walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards awaited us upon the table. to some other building. had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was "Then I shall certainly come." might have a private word with us. outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and "I shall be delighted." situation." Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of frequently gained my first real insight into the character of "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. "But you were on a friendly footing?" My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both detained." feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. train.' "His face fell immediately. "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made this man was intellectual?" thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, Pope's Court, Fleet Street." although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those "Yes." fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a "'Where could I find him?' happened." a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the society." wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a "That's no good." as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent corner of the building. chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have call for protection in the marriage market, for the present greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the "It is true that I have been generally successful." explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been ordinary clothes on?" reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." to-night?' you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, whether it answered to the description of any of their daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a I have it here in my museum." The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. "What?" "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, beyond words. should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." both be extremely obliged.' not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must attention." of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united the tragedy. sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of new duties?' fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I at my own good fortune. of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his nice household for a young lady." human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. that he has suffered." foresight and the moral retrogression?" the devil!" "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he "Perhaps we may make them less so." bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to village inn over there?" with you alone." grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the speckled band?" part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a just called myself is not exactly my own." himself to hunt down. "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a him and tried to hold him back. to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken even so self-evident a thing as that." money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing the tragedy. His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and "That is unusual in a young girl." "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others "How can you tell that?" bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster