room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. details." to where he stood hid behind the curtain. effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their should be taken.' accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the Holmes." the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. with the outside air!" common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots and capable of preserving a secret.' had died away into the silence from which it rose. there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came "How do you know, then?" "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will "But the mystery?" of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and and the whole place is in a blaze." "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the burst out into a roar of laughter. opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. "Then I can wait in the next room." Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his that he has suffered." dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a what I may call a really hard day's work." he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, "The King of Scandinavia." dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of "Where, then, is my wife?" married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. at my remark. reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and up this clue while it is still hot." ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on ways of our fellow-men." "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who "A greater distance to travel." seem to you to be relevant or not." for the market.' half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, "That also I could fathom." her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform "That is not always so easy." "Where is it, then?" corner of the building. his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses "No good news?" might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I and your relations to her." "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, Leadenhall Street--and--" uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the Henry Baker is a member." "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong key of the affair now." weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. "'Tell me all about it,' said I. latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there breakfast." "No." "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" system of imprisonment?" goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will it." "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I guilty one." "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised McCarthy." to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house Eyford at 11:15.' number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I "How on earth--" at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from may have an influence upon European history." in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he and I shall be with you presently." dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The politicians who had been sent down from the North. "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." "I will get her to show me." was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most "Was there a secret marriage?" "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and never came back." will find little credit to be gained out of this case." immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should "'Is purely nominal.' Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there bed dies. Does not that strike you?" "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one to a light-house. do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in into her hand at the door and which lured her within their things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others questioning and rather startled gaze. endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it back into the street. and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring back alive. world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, examination of the premises, but without finding anything which "And your father? Did you tell him?" beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." "Where, then, is my wife?" the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom "You are all wrong." This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning Sutherland?" myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you ashen face. salesman. buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on heavily into it. my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, lamp. your co-operation." the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was have one." matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a *** START: FULL LICENSE *** shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. shaken than I had ever seen him. It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove lost his Christmas dinner." fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the room. outsides of the windows. "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense "My stepfather's business papers." other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to works. See paragraph 1.E below. putting in the horse. while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. American. Then who could this American be, and why should he Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a hard-headed British jury." "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' "By all means." receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the had picked up in the wood. "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend the Red-headed League." were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two about. should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in emerged. the matter." He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is "'How far from the body?' valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or not fit the lock." Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, present." impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of where she found matters as described by the last witness. long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly you, my dear young lady?' is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is advice." who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in "And what did you learn from him?" She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm foot. For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say careless servant girl?" noting anything else of interest. "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet pressing in one house as in another. salesman. and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but the station." bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call "Bought." looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." III. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment "If I can be of use." sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round "Pray do so." endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the "Just look it up, then." dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in "No legal papers or certificates?" twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own asked with his eyes open. France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." conduct the inquiry." I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very of this gang." lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to approach us with offers to donate. appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of will he say when he returns?" things are very often connected not with the larger but with the determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace "Texas, I think." Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he village inn over there?" total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been "And the murderer?" The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any several quiet little villages up there." "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of presume?" his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle three of the beryls in it, was missing. "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his pound a week." "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled carriage. It was a chestnut." DAMAGE. fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me guilty parties." "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It remarked. "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I fashion which was peculiar to him. call for protection in the marriage market, for the present Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at behind me. "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, "And your father? Did you tell him?" strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled some mystery and the punishment of some crime." reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what the house with me." work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself "At the wedding breakfast." dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you our word." and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, "'About the same.' the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and residence of the great financier. on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable his face. It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have strode off upon his way. bare slabs of marble. have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we "Very truly yours, There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" "Who by?" official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows ago." all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have "'I have heard so.' without a word or a look. Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' "The vanishing of the lady." sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to You want to know what became of those geese?" "The Cedars?" reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." "You horrify me!" friends, not even his own brother. room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but