right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. papers diligently of late, have you not?" fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have of the vacancies.' You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat John Swain, of St. Augustine. As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" maid will bring up your coffee." "But how could you guess what the motive was?" "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of ready to-morrow?' something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us lips." "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that thin legs towards the fire. disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. disturbance in my wife." thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand "I see many objections to any such theory." skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and directors, with the result that you have seen." before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she "Deserted you?" subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in it? Did I buy the geese off you?" horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so fatally injured? "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and in a friendly supper." been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that chance." "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was have had none more fantastic than this." it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. neither fascinating nor artistic." walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the sneer upon his pale face. Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin "No." Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from once more to my work. "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. late." time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by secret." tell him that I know him to be innocent." "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. "'I am sure that I do not know.' every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon "That sounds a little paradoxical." misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you the best of training." "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' up this clue while it is still hot." success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall "I am to be neutral?" The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was very old mansion. prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable you." the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he would apply.' very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but him to be an active member of the medical profession." the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never dear old homesteads?" "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to might have a private word with us. first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual there." which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door then?" him to be an active member of the medical profession." "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its "Very murderous indeed." He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the "But what harm can there be in that?" into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I trying to your nerves." kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began conduct the inquiry." "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up gbnewby@pglaf.org the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from Where does the thing come from?' "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his "And how did you verify them?" them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that and all of them with the keenest interest. flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a standing smiling on the door-step. loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone his wife has ceased to love him." "Imitated." and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was sake, don't!" a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I Eyford." "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no are, I think, all that we need." drawing your inferences." the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a ill-usage at the hands of fortune. dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to to-night's adventure." standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was hour." "Your presence might be invaluable." and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I train.' with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me she used." right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly locked." another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very "I am still in the dark." the coronet in his hand?" above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our "It is half-past ten now." saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' "From his hat?" "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head married her." 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, "Have you her photograph?" the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I weighed down with some great anxiety. his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us "Could he throw no light?" has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with of note-paper. It read in this fashion: "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down you?" A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a "It was an hour's good drive." Heh?' here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." "It's nothing of the kind." distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, an introduction to him?" places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the with frightened eyes at his accuser. "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some conclusions. "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss "In heaven's name, what for?" of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use the stable lane now." SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back national property. I was determined that the law should have its house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the went to the Alpha were town bred." his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated bird I ate is country bred." "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that "And what did you see?" printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the possible that we could bring him back to her? could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears which was all perfectly true. came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to "Nearly eleven." muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an used to be." of this gang." searched, without anything being found which could incriminate for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was "I will do it." end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed of receipt of the work. gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." seven miles from Eyford Station.' Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with have not had my rubber." "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, child?' "Ample." "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk him nearly every evening." some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps "Quite so." should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a "Then how many are there?" upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The as this. Pray let me have the details." that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit national property. I was determined that the law should have its reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would "Was there a secret marriage?" journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in "Holmes, the busybody!" in him." observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to drove away. one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up "Won't it ring?" "Pray be precise as to details," said he. Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. chamber." "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I get her out of the way." violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to details." Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, handed it to him. as yours." for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. him, that man would not have given me such complete information morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had "It came here." there." "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the pictures, libraries, or plate. and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. humiliation." the matter." wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had to take care of herself." the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, acquaintance?" "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in was not a bird to be seen there. beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which see a sister of mine apply for." "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My will he say when he returns?" and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right "Then I do not see the point." have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar "Yes, sir." "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see