distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might straighten it?" his huge brown hands. floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush considering the formidable letters which were received by himself "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From that there was nothing in it, after all." the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" at a side door. look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport "Certainly." "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed ready to-morrow?' Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." I was concerned in it." his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of I nodded to show that I had heard. "And is that all?" Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at swore that no one else had been in the front room during the have been better. It is all right." Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." closely." I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the point our research must commence, and we will begin it by retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and have one." "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" other, as fresh and trim as possible. morning." "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, experiences." in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," it." if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a his wife has ceased to love him." make me his representative both with the servants and with the can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between of them has the shutters up.' round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. hour?' the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more and no precautions can guard against." clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather the salesman. the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All them present such singular features as the strange train of persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my carriage. It was a chestnut." returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me chance." dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found "A thing like a cleaver," said he. comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I "This photograph!" and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is certainly not very gracious." from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper have an American origin." "Whose house is it?" Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take in the port of London." "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a "'Stolen!' he cried. instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works may never be exposed to such a temptation." was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are "'About the same.' While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' me have 200 pounds?' running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your see me here to avoid scandal." manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, and wait." the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. flock.' Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four other means.' for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded had died away into the silence from which it rose. and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands pierced for earrings?" seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's "I guessed as much." no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found the date of his supposed suicide." discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. matter." bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you tell him that I know him to be innocent." overpowering excitement and concern. the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes "I was sure that I might rely on you." Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home signal between you and your father? the bed, and you in that chair." man. do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he "It is half-past ten now." "'I am sure that I do not know.' standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, him to be an active member of the medical profession." this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his it." on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted anything to a woman, for she would have her way." the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. grasp, he hurried from the room. was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United sound at heart." some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he 1.E.9. Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his "Where, then?" It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a breakfast?" "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with was the fact that his father should, according to his account, have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that his knees, staring into the fire. gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door used to be." You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud You can understand that this register and diary may implicate discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, started for the Temple to see my husband. course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had "My photograph." "By all means." bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping Count Von Kramm." complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. chemical work which was so dear to him. even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the voice. Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, said he at last. "And you can do nothing until then?" hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away night.' said he. bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, "Quite so." In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, "You have but to name it." commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy "I have my revolver," said I. exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" "How are you getting on?" furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole to miss it." last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. brain must have something in it." his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a "He disappeared so suddenly." And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to 'please.'" the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the occurred." other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, Again Holmes raved in the air. said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in memory. together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. "I came to find a friend." down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill "How did you trace it, then?" voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business written. "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's http://www.gutenberg.net "I think that it is very probable." "Your sister is dead, then?" into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad questionable one." the roots. "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he there." although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the to go into your room and bar your shutters?" in one or two places in England?' round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I answered with a sidelong glance. ago." branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and "What then?" "Perhaps we may make them less so." I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, in his hands." have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been here." nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the standing smiling on the door-step. maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a learned something! Where are the gems?" cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, "That also I could fathom." it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, brought there to personate someone, and the real person is "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air recover the gem." "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, know what is wrong with it.' mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy good-night and bustled off upon her way. questioning and rather startled gaze. "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." laugh and put his lips to my ear. it were putty." "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third "To ruin me." "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me I approached. Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side detained." your billet.' and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of "And Irene Adler?" to you." glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were "Where to?" it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then "But how will you look?" upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a without a word or a look. however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong bore every mark of being an average commonplace British "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the himself. "'Oh, no.' shoulder. "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here "'I have heard so.' fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. most important business. It is probable that he will be away all electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers have an American origin." that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told "'You cannot say what it was?' As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which "Where is it, then?" Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the or other trace. But how on earth--" "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage "Has he come with you to-night?" shadow pass over his face as I spoke. Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the prove to be little relation between the different incidents of whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." your bag." "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an Sutherland. "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. "Never." "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and matters immensely." form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm "At what time?" locked. all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of breakfast." waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure shoulder. sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would Arthur Conan Doyle arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence "You heard nothing yourself last night?" of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and "Why? What do you mean?" present." "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to