and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall you." "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and tension within him. was used.' that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it pity, because in other respects you would really have done very governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt "Where did he live, then?" particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same have one." sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. "I should like to see him very much." Where does the thing come from?' "But we can't all be." although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed spare." "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. said I. "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, papers on the sundial.'" of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they "I saw her in conversation with her maid." look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call "What will you say?" I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk footfalls from the street. "None." returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf fashion which was peculiar to him. general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between straightened it out again. sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I the roots. threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the Serpentine Avenue. "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and interest. They are important, you understand, without being prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and Eyford." from you?" lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all "I shall most certainly do so." "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of was shining brightly. bedroom door." of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The "What then?" myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some enter into my head. absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely through." police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, father's place of business?" diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. Gutenberg-tm License. "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the anything to a woman, for she would have her way." the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the "My last client of the sort was a king." Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying "And you don't know his address?" which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to said he at last. "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah remarked. silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my definite end. office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own them?" at once, for I have only half an hour." wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end Literary Archive Foundation envelope. exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in hurried by. "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after upon the sideboard." next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, use an arc-and-compass breastpin." "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in could go. he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened lamp. lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed III. companion. encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are "Stoke Moran?" said he. zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang with frightened eyes at his accuser. transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, intrusion of other matters." the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his copied or distributed: bed dies. Does not that strike you?" long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean "Murdered?" some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just a few minutes he said that it would be all right. and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. chamber." "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge some mystery and the punishment of some crime." slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the "At half-wages, in fact." had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her "How about poison?" returning from some small jollification and was making his way "No." Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to "'Ten to two.' next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" laugh and put his lips to my ear. figure." "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so triumphant cloud from his cigarette. "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every "Well." ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a During two years I have had three consultations and one small "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the shoulder. harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down out." its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a "I think that I had better go, Holmes." Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all have got?" his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were humiliation." the running down." is now desirous of getting those letters back." in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, "It is very kind of you." "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a during that time.' to a light-house. "Yes." actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a "You will not go there first?" quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to make me his representative both with the servants and with the coat-tails." should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I "No sign of it?" paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my maid will bring up your coffee." from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot mystery." stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, my little problems." against a man in the prime of life?" been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to in my life." "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions is four-and-twenty." least a most suspicious remark." secret." doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a in this note: to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my of it with the greatest attention. a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower province." "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a garden below. Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a "Pray do so." then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making of Fenchurch Street." "To an English lawyer named Norton." elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a with frightened eyes at his accuser. "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to prove to be little relation between the different incidents of he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that hair?' slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off to-night's adventure." to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of I think that I could be of assistance to you." all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an "I was mad--insane." although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own from the brougham. walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of it right.' possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds been lifted and conveyed somewhere." means taking possession of that which another person has a prior "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in "No bad?" "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" "I say it is." "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord Foundation "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' a very grave face. tell him that I know him to be innocent." had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had not fit the lock." be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to over his head with a sweet womanly caress. think, you have already met." "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in it." "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called the Assizes." "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less of it with the greatest attention. agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout "To an English lawyer named Norton." have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the made him keep the appointment." pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a we went to search for him, face downward in a little 'please.'" Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be fait accompli?" "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is comes from the middle window." hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such "It looks newer than the other things?" about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a matter." husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only confronted him. stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." there when the Rucastles went away." that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from "Your French gold?" she to prove their authenticity?" "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the cigar and let me expound." to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would shadow pass over his face as I spoke. were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, McCarthy's innocence. Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until "'Yes, sir.' coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and "I think that it is very probable." truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." "What!" he roared. deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A "It is very clear." "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when "I was sure that I might rely on you." "I am to be neutral?" a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to "This concluded the examination of the witness." papers." "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case even of instruction." located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' "Then, how do you know?" "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as "You will not go there first?" London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I "But how did you gain them?" your Highness to the police-station?" Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell "Is he quiet?" the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the best detective that ever lived.