know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, "Yes, from Horsham." do.' "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which "Did you observe the colour?" had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical "Yes." paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught been with you?" "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." "Oh, fresh and glossy." "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called papers must be those that are destroyed.' eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his the inquest, and which are worth considering." "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of been." to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I "But how will you look?" could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He presented which may be striking and bizarre without being telegram would bring me down to your help." already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of as noiselessly as she had come. "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have really the only notable feature about the thing." to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped thin legs towards the fire. and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and said he. "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so been shamefully used." "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an reach." landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry important." turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to words came to my lips. should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded like that before?" "Has he come with you to-night?" were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the strong reason behind." populous neighbourhood." had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she "My Mary? Impossible!" "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might "That is unusual in a young girl." "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." "I was afraid that you were engaged." Watson," he said cordially. heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that have an American origin." large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope exactly what you advise." to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my "Where did he live, then?" father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite Literary Archive Foundation Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in "Thank you. Pray proceed." "Then I do not see the point." you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at It may be so in this case, also." a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air be best to do. sit on the left-hand side of the driver." "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to nonsense.' put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover "Breckinridge is his name." Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be at home. so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before himself. "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From what is your own theory as to what took place?" Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of persecution?" searched, without anything being found which could incriminate "How do you know, then?" "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some gentleman's clothes. with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my reach." Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but to surprise her." "It must be recovered." the date of his supposed suicide." my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his "And your father? Did you tell him?" so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the "Then I am your man." problems help me to do so." seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into "It came here." enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying think that he is innocent?" "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, "What!" he roared. was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at I. when your master had gone out." the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his III. ran thus: of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced "Here?" state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could Lee, in the county of Kent." client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, been able to understand it, in a very few words. thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is "'No, I know no one in these parts.' itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love "And your mother is alive?" closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but are windows in it, of course?" have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in had this final quarrel? balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are pressing in one house as in another. chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it "Yes." sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch Stoke Moran." flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is floor. if she died from some sudden fright." paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My time." beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look who was a member of your goose club." she might be summoned. "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like "Come in!" said Holmes. and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is "Yes." time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. note?" "Has he come with you to-night?" of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me "And it is--" "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" light and attacked it." Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs "Where, then, is my wife?" "None. Neville wrote those words." buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys of the vacancies.' nonsense.' of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds "That is also quite modern," said the lady. to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too certainly not very gracious." walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." awaited us upon the table. of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the "Did he not advertise?" bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are "You are hungry," I remarked. police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered "But not more so than I to find you." "But he might be a bachelor." answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at "The King of Scandinavia." "He is still with you, I presume?" sooner or later she must fall a victim. fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever "But your client--" occurred." Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It three of the beryls in it, was missing. large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from "Of what day?" his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built not interfere, come what may. You understand?" not use it unless it is absolutely needed." for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity conclusions. minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of look dissatisfied." England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the "I am sure." helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was passage and a tap at the door. the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that to-night?" I asked. stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he "'And what are they worth?' I asked. to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an chemical work which was so dear to him. some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. "If so, much may have happened between." the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each the coroner come to?" often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very light and attacked it." stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire is entirely a question of barometric pressure." really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other "What will you say?" sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just "I should like to see him very much." is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down through." takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to enough to aid us in our search." "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you Arthur Conan Doyle widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step upon an income of about 60 pounds." "'What would be the hours?' I asked. "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat is," said he presently: town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. fishes. The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater carried out of court." Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon pound a week." paper in the air. habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her "'What would be the hours?' I asked. lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of the one as in the other." Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly least a fellow-countryman. suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was easy-going way." unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy Gutenberg-tm License. overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few lids now and glanced across at his visitor. in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive "What! a murderous attack?" "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the "Only as much as we can deduce." "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of waste of energy." peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and goes." "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed remarked. turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be could not have written that. It is the German who is so doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her http://gutenberg.net/license). As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right "But I have heard all that you have heard."