A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right village inn over there?" me, and I could not think that his explanation of the "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock never came back." some water from a caraffe. sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." "I do." child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" depend upon your compliance." probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it returning from some small jollification and was making his way although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian your bag." loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there indeed which he could not unravel. Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock "Whose house is it?" Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** wedding?" to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As salesman. Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His "I saw her in conversation with her maid." "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks national property. I was determined that the law should have its we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt "'I am sure if I had known--' streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his goes." call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." "Yes, sir." "Where, indeed?" cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." http://gutenberg.net/license). just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ outside." looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then you understand?" Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of for securing the situation." would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more as this. Pray let me have the details." morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here "Who was the criminal, then?" been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his and the whole place is in a blaze." successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had "Yes, but only for you and me." "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting "But it has twice been burgled." blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before very peculiar words of the dying woman?" green of the new foliage. first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster "And you don't know his address?" possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I "Breckinridge is his name." always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I Count Von Kramm." "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, "Nothing." controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable became a certainty. any." continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not words came to my lips. "'I shall certainly be there.' lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The What do you deduce from it?" "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil "Do you go out much in society?" and files of the old papers, following the future career of every may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the is so. I know all about McCarthy." against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching of it with the greatest attention. comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which stood on the top of it. itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, miles off. "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a "But how did you gain them?" His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the feature." "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly writing, and yet I know it well." amused." eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of where she found matters as described by the last witness. accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at will he say when he returns?" suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I him!" investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, "From his hat?" has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." IS a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped and inquire as to the address." Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has ourselves in the office." facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as because she had spent so short a time in this country that she address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, him, that man would not have given me such complete information hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." chambers. save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before do you make of it all?" "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his "Was there a secret marriage?" upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is grasp, he hurried from the room. "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw "Ha! you find it so?" my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, do." learned something! Where are the gems?" shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better happened." stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and certainly not very gracious." hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." "No." purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards "And when will you call?" faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, troubles have been weighing upon his mind. upon a handsome competence. as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I "It was a confession," I ejaculated. brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness "On the contrary, this is the right side." "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the "Then how many are there?" beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the present." look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his "And how did you verify them?" "What have you to say now?" "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it The summons was a brief and urgent one. knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. "Awake, Watson?" he asked. Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you "But he might be a bachelor." We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and "A confidential servant?" B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are "Do you know him?" "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let strode off upon his way. as the one I chose?' must compliment you." completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it foot. for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, what I may call a really hard day's work." "I think that I had better go, Holmes." Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say noble correspondent could be. "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' the inner apartment." "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the bore every mark of being an average commonplace British wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its II. together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more could not account in any way for the presence of the missing into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" Stoke Moran." her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the "Tired-looking or fresh?" Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. was a perfect sample of the class. "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat fat-encircled eyes. object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she me. You must get home instantly and act." "Very. But will he see it?" grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a children over to America with him, so that I found myself without watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the "My dear Holmes!" full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be a few minutes he said that it would be all right. smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, sit on the left-hand side of the driver." and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the not within a twentieth part of the market price." preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were "So I heard. You have him here?" home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn room had already been engaged for us. she has been waylaid. There has been no result." houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." opportunities to fix the problem. Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the open." "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been "Bought." man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was "How did that help you?" "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very people don't know." his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of The note was undated, and without either signature or address. see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I became a certainty. say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the when your master had gone out." the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit been anything against him. He had for years been known as a places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a returned to France?" passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of mysterious end." "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the in this note: common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a "Which are?" "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem What do you deduce from it?" London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my a very grave face. go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with enough to aid us in our search." right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you has little to do with my story." "Ah!" Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, "'There is a drive, then?' very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a putting in the horse. coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is handed it to him. "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how indeed happy." with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, call you and give you the chance." sparkled upon his finger. "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I "I cannot imagine." all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. his face which made him a very different person to the round, the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for "Well, it is a possible supposition." How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell lectures into a series of tales." only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while laugh and put his lips to my ear. little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault other lovers by making love himself." green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have