"Oh, fresh and glossy." down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." American. Then who could this American be, and why should he given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of "You don't mind breaking the law?" and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the "She showed me, as I told you she would." gives a meaning to it." and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may "BALLARAT." "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became "It's nothing of the kind." "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." "Yes, it was twisted." gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not with her." forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was bonnet, and went out." stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the and that he would see to anything that turned up. any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle chair. it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's "Witness: I must still refuse. state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a conceal it?" "How do you know, then?" more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and "The gentleman I describe." "Certainly." "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from shadow pass over his face as I spoke. your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and "Stolen, then." "Yes, sir." Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. "And you can do nothing until then?" dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and gbnewby@pglaf.org had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's highroad, where all traces were lost. "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could papers must be those that are destroyed.' "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so than was visible to me." man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. is acting for the best. "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You 'I should be able to look after that for you.' "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. very peculiar words of the dying woman?" pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might "Yes, at the mines." kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. know that the truth is known." of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite "I should be immensely obliged to you." had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California "Dark enough and sinister enough." a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** fashion which was peculiar to him. homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling crime. "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which "'Most admirably.' have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several comes from the middle window." tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the chamber." of his shoulders. "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black bled considerably." thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past may never be exposed to such a temptation." time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and "You were travelling in the States?" black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated presume?" than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have nothing with him." "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking really the only notable feature about the thing." not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one upon an income of about 60 pounds." "Did you observe the colour?" upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it very peculiar words of the dying woman?" inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." showing my impatience. instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported "It looks newer than the other things?" play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and sound at heart." the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. "My private note-paper." "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he cost them two and thirty pounds." and prosperity to your house. Good-night." ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, "And how did you find out?" a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as of the efforts of the United States government and of the better "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" Holmes' room. to tackle the facts." been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two "Your presence might be invaluable." list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not him. "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him showing my impatience. boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. salesman. Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate been shamefully used." "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my of fine shops and stately business premises that they really to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand means taking possession of that which another person has a prior on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was voice, changing her seat as requested. "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and 11:15.' young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not "'Most admirably.' banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off I nodded again. "Very. But will he see it?" affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I at home. the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an possible that we could bring him back to her? also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty "Very much so." demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' "Your presence might be invaluable." The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was brandy and water within his reach. Mrs. Toller serenely. half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the him. and it need not interfere very much with one's other was not a bird to be seen there. and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and The King stared at him in amazement. remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to but preventing her from injuring another. "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." "'In my own bureau.' "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do shall use the carriage to-night." envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name relation between them, and what the object of his repeated "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a "I was sure that I might rely on you." "You are all wrong." branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in there was no need for father to know." affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles relation between them, and what the object of his repeated article?" "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to "Never." the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an was once confined in the cab my mission was practically "None. Neville wrote those words." second window is the one that I jumped from." of your young ladies.' have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they his knees, staring into the fire. I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought the Assizes." 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, a suggestive one." future lives." eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my "Well, some hundreds of times." considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready "You will not go there first?" "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite "No, I am descending." dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the made his money." companion. leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his newspaper selections." "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' gbnewby@pglaf.org perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. neither fascinating nor artistic." "We were both in the photograph." "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a hand, madam?" Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every "No." waste of energy." "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten that threaten you." certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you Pope's Court, Fleet Street." upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. "We have tried and failed." cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." passage and a tap at the door. "Did you observe the colour?" 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side troubles have been weighing upon his mind. are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: laugh and put his lips to my ear. outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates "Proceed, then." slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the key of the affair now." came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some "Pray do so." that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster key of the affair now." mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again once more to my work. with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. "It is his hat." "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table "What!" he roared. call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." delighted to hear it," he said. you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. go back?" his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a jewels which you have stolen?' going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man "I am still in the dark." and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of "Then I can wait in the next room." depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect throat." is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with Heh?' strength." our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had was it brought him the coronet? about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a be there in time for your coming." for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must "Certainly." of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might the best of training." wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, the roots. stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. "Very well, sir. And this stone?" This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you "And what did you see?" despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it room. "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs "Ha! you find it so?" daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." "I will get her to show me." brandy and water within his reach. threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the "So it appears." All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip fat-encircled eyes. "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get for securing the situation." are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary "Was your sister dressed?"