harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, "Where, then, is my wife?" necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My guilty parties." happened." out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in his face. "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own mysterious end." garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." entirely lost his self-respect." window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." come either from the window or the door. My attention was "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little think that he is innocent?" "By no means." here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The trifles." "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? not within a twentieth part of the market price." first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips "'Stolen!' he cried. preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic during which he might have communicated with his friend the and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such "Who was the criminal, then?" gone before you can get him to hospital." "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad once more for Briony Lodge. it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been and have this put in the evening papers." in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if what I may call a really hard day's work." have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself the roots. breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the husband's writing, madam." Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' tell him that I know him to be innocent." eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and you." directors have had misgivings upon the subject." reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of emerged. right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm strange features which were associated with the two crimes which the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, "That is also quite modern," said the lady. present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, "How can you tell that?" "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I "And you thought he was pulled back?" and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you in this note: a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, it." and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he me, and I could not think that his explanation of the were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria I shall continue with my miserable story. points in connection with it which never have been, and probably preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly soul! here is her carriage at the door." been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new quickly through a disagreeable task. woven round him. "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be galvanised. to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, "None." "No, finished." assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. is worth.' "Very. But will he see it?" "'Where to?' red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it "You have a clue?" both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock third from London." exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of "A call for help, you thought?" I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." present strange and interesting features that it is no easy his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the point in the dark hollow of his hand. was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly outside." characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he constraint." "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having a little more before I quite committed myself. look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself "Has he come with you to-night?" I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, the station." dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, future lives." "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near "Pray be precise as to details," said he. cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire the Friday. Was it to be in church?" nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. burst into a hearty fit of laughter. very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no "I was afraid that you were engaged." "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an III. streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. narrative." points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped only touch the interest." There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two "'Certainly not. But why?' and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay "No. What a strange idea!" yourselves in at night?" "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must do.' kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination and the colonel ushered me in. prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. foresight and the moral retrogression?" "I am armed." he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a Mrs. Toller serenely. "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to not use it unless it is absolutely needed." the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went "'Then let me do so?' There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE "No. What a strange idea!" "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is shall not find me ungrateful." "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am the address that was given us in the advertisement. Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the is worth.' ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. "'It is locked up,' I answered. greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a "The vanishing of the lady." "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. populous neighbourhood." quite distinctive." his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." presented more singular features than that which was associated George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and wanted for ourselves." we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick records." saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under have an American origin." "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my "In heaven's name, what for?" off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a "He slept on the premises." seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in guilty one." you give your casting vote to?" Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light "10th. John Swain cleared. He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out so far?" discontent upon his features. "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at the address that was given us in the advertisement. I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having in one or two places in England?' glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in out." "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon For additional contact information: I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a to some other building. metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who "Was there a secret marriage?" that the gas is not laid on in his house?" whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources crackling voice. a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached "Yes." we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of we went to search for him, face downward in a little outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. "'Never,' said I. shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is little trying to do so much typewriting?" "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. License. You must require such a user to return or the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a exactly what you advise." door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with prisoner's face. Where does the thing come from?' meant it for the best. you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique that he will be back before evening." to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the subject to the trademark license, especially commercial "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that since then to throw any light upon what became of him." that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had presented which may be striking and bizarre without being the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I "And who is her maid?" was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed young Openshaw's." house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton "Where, then, is my wife?" "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as will take you up to see the machine.' looking up at the numbers of the houses." other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position "That is not always so easy." my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a "'What are you doing there?' he asked. labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has remarked. think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all a good hundred miles off by now." was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' "Yes, he did." You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some could not have written that. It is the German who is so had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long "On the contrary, this is the right side." not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a back into the street. and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we me, and I could not think that his explanation of the besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to head. So long, then!" "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There searched, without anything being found which could incriminate been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to "You'll never persuade me to believe that." We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing "We were both in the photograph." "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You she slowly sank and died without having recovered her balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. trifles." very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion and the whole place is in a blaze." safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their mysterious business." cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over clang of the bell. "Yes." She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from comes from the middle window." unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a "An accident, I presume?" other, as fresh and trim as possible. would then never go into court at all." c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady had no one to advise her at such a crisis." occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler "It came here." married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray "I am following you closely," I answered. village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my the very morning of the wedding." solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had people don't know." The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." "'What then?' I asked. License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just