Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." "Not social, then?" their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." "'Yes, I promise.' congenial hunt. long narrative. "Yes." that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster are windows in it, of course?" particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes some terrible trap for her." she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over 11:15.' One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." "Nothing." "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door Again Holmes raved in the air. when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its "How do you know, then?" "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A generous with you in money matters.' awkward doing business with an alias." brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the tassel actually lying upon the pillow. a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was "Absolutely none." points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, other means.' blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said breakfast?" right! Sit down and let us talk it over." "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No outbreak?" he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." national property. I was determined that the law should have its lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they window when the police appeared." flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this cigar and let me expound." my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was pictures, libraries, or plate. bachelor.' The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it his cane at the bell-pull. something of him before." "Nearly eleven." here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon "By train from Waterloo." Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most "But the mystery?" and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. Clair, of Lee." The telegram which we eventually received came late one night and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until Watson," he said cordially. "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the union?" glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the like that before?" quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for "What steps will you take?" I asked. Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we that you can jump it.' This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have do." copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I get her out of the way." out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the details." accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, and the whole place is in a blaze." where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a "'Tell me all about it,' said I. "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey "Where, indeed?" but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but points to suicide?" which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, all?" danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it "It is very clear." "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to his eyes and forehead. and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at of Fenchurch Street." from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me you do it in twenty minutes!' they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent particular state visit http://pglaf.org figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not "A call for help, you thought?" I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in "I fear not." murdered man." time." practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction "Frequently." so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much "Yes, he did." hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. wanted for ourselves." "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" "I answered that I had not. know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, "I don't believe it." right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he "How did you trace it, then?" introspective fashion. "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham "Can I be of assistance?" your troubles." "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend to you." o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." "Do you know him?" "Not him." while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, in your London, you will know that the office of the company is "You did not overhear what they said?" breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly "But what will you do?" "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had of." wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry "One of the highest in England." "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very "Ah, but I was recommended to you." surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, "He disappeared so suddenly." contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" over here." "How on earth--" three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' intimate personal affairs in this public manner." "And I to find an enemy." events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to chill to my heart. sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and "I am still in the dark." astonishment. weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from wedding?" week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she late!' the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. observed. own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what becomes even more simple." should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of "I cannot tell." and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other lids now and glanced across at his visitor. (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, never will be, entirely cleared up. moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you fish-monger and a tide-waiter." and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a and the church but not where the lady lived." "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: "Come in!" said he. believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the Leave Paddington by the 11:15." Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to Where does the thing come from?' quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. "And now?" He raised his hand. Street. reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my forbidden door. "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. wall." his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable 1.E.9. freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest writers could invent nothing more crude." interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" him." to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would over here." "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he present strange and interesting features that it is no easy an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet at my own good fortune. town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news "And help." I shall continue with my miserable story. leaning back in his chair. the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon Watson," he said cordially. papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. said Mr. Holder. lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the garden below. and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what instituted." cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's "Witness: Nothing definite. struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was "I am still in the dark." hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. Surrey." bed dies. Does not that strike you?" his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, "Now, then, what's the last entry?" lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." should be taken.' actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste "'You doubt its value?' he asked. who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir "It is half-past ten now." "And now?" He raised his hand. them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save advice." Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in I was concerned in it." my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so delirious. would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in "Only as much as we can deduce." evidence," I remarked. nonsense.' fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the bears upon the case?" which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your in his hands." it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again future lives." any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, feature." our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and the inner apartment." way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from spare." goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. too. savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project existence." "Were they all fastened this morning?" "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just the one as in the other." very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to "I don't say that. Perhaps." doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I province." to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in strength in the others." as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress "But she will refuse." the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of photograph?" "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted said he at last. "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy of receipt of the work. stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. chance." handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I that he has suffered." did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from "Of Friday, June 19th." slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." question," said Holmes, smiling. strength of mind to control. "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the "Not particularly." "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man what is your own theory as to what took place?" "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had "Has he come with you to-night?" police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that outside." his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is the coroner come to?" right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I the coronet at all injured?" to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I