grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass about. weigh very heavily upon my conscience." the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among cigar and let me expound." come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to money should be paid at once.' man. before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it "Yes." should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" once more on the important position which you have been fortunate his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. your co-operation." Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a would apply.' "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the should be taken.' "My opinion is in no way altered." see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." with you?" their singular warning or token before them when starting upon "So I heard. You have him here?" had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her strode off upon his way. hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance "Frequently." solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very through." One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had sufficient punishment." "Where is it, then?" eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been 'please.'" was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was of it with the greatest attention. guilty parties." beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the *** START: FULL LICENSE *** reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study "You forget that I know nothing about it." ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the "Will you go?" my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a call for it in person on Monday morning.' "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," Dr. Gregory B. Newby a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three "And now?" I asked. unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging important." "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if "Dark enough and sinister enough." prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that back into the street. toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed I took the paper from him and read as follows: husband's writing, madam." black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, into her hand at the door and which lured her within their ordinary clothes on?" "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, beyond words. than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church him." performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as four million human beings all jostling each other within the "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the him. clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. promised to bring home. let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from the window, rose as we entered. "Never." stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an really the only notable feature about the thing." I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism light and attacked it." voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, one else, I think." inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, your bag." him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I narrative." answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her conversation I have gathered that they have been married about "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. garden below. aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered when you have done it." continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which brain must have something in it." always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the shoulder. protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the bled considerably." though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side himself to hunt down. reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT highroad, where all traces were lost. contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. John Swain, of St. Augustine. knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had him. upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical "Why? What do you mean?" "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you you." ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were "I am armed." If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The "Perfectly so." "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, shaken than I had ever seen him. passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all "That is unusual in a young girl." at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend "'I have heard so.' enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in my little problems." "It is no ordinary one." surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." asked. been." shoulder; "he's all right." from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, "What will you say?" during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been never to learn it at all." a monotonous occupation." "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole possible that we could bring him back to her? man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his there in twenty minutes." handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, upon the white wrist. "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with "'Certainly,' I answered. anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after "And is that all?" views." you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it congenial hunt. While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with points to suicide?" that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as fled together." status with the IRS. departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their "'I shall certainly be there.' "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me the loss of it. How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway affair. "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and new acquaintance to Baker Street. "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and is entirely a question of barometric pressure." if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, "'What then?' I asked. "That is easily got." narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been open." fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil "Indeed! Whose, then?" "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man "No bad?" "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you sparkled upon his finger. without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face not come at once?" "Yes, I have one waiting." "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen "And I say east," said my patient. "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal "Certainly." full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of think, you have already met." "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." at my remark. "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said matter." Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be "Nor running a chance of arrest?" Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. "'Yes, sir.' mystery!" passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which Pope's Court, Fleet Street." feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the cheerful." ways of our fellow-men." chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and "Precisely." the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp upon the white wrist. ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could outbreak?" make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the disappearance of the bride.'" ways of our fellow-men." business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to "And I." "Never." "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" might help us?" "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing the address that was given us in the advertisement. and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. to talk it over. butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it absorbing." "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get details." beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a "A thing like a cleaver," said he. cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the tear off another piece?' of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a that threaten you." him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible "A greater distance to travel." "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature "'You cannot say what it was?' of them has the shutters up.' drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I matters immensely." where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may never to learn it at all." "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I been shamefully used." "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. "His face fell immediately. "Not in the least." take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to But Holmes shook his head gravely. fatally injured? the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for that he will be back before evening." shall not find me ungrateful." him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' Gutenberg-tm License. "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem "An accident, I presume?" of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked quick march!" to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the from the brougham. and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he Munro.' Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at "Did you observe the colour?" undoubtedly my uncle's." "Was she in good spirits?" Sutherland?" or in danger--" the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project "Always." chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is