his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled "'And what are they worth?' I asked. be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm "Entirely." of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." "That you are never beaten." Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen go from here to the Strand." for the market.' that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I "That is possible." mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that people in all walks of life. "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened "Here?" rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He "You are hungry," I remarked. "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' "'About the same.' Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about Clair, of Lee." Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance of the vacancies.' The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of "I will not look." frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord "Yes, it would be as well." "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end sooner or later she must fall a victim. brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. business." pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His from the brougham. to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel point in the dark hollow of his hand. returning from some small jollification and was making his way chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the brain must have something in it." nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one "I cannot tell." time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual fattened it expressly for you.' upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped is so. I know all about McCarthy." over part of the map. "What do you read?" were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler "My own seal." Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from chambers. Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a lost nothing by them." By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be "What then?" nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six nights." really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of trying to your nerves." who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's away into the river." window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and "And how in the world did you find them?" "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which manager. the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, was used.' was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united "We were both in the photograph." a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you acted in my house last night?" been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly tell him that I know him to be innocent." observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most said he, "my real name is James Ryder." For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge you in your example." that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. "But he might be a bachelor." depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a the best of training." subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I "And you thought he was pulled back?" I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be "You did not overhear what they said?" train.' lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was directors, with the result that you have seen." "Yes, he did." "Entirely." "Pray do so." best detective that ever lived. "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned in a very precise fashion." of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw acquaintance?" back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, "What is it, then--a fire?" age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is when your master had gone out." casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid go--none." from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very the matter." showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. trifles." her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and burst into a hearty fit of laughter. at a side door. deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; "And now?" He raised his hand. Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed "None." their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he shadow pass over his face as I spoke. me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted strength of mind to control. Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, a suggestive one." waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' over here." despair." "I should like to see him very much." my little problems." away into the river." "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after means taking possession of that which another person has a prior myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your "Where, then, is my wife?" chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, "It certainly sounds feasible." fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own "Seven!" I answered. "'And what are they worth?' I asked. like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, with you alone." breakfast and whispered something to her husband. truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm to his chemical studies. and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. "Then, as to money?" to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the she to prove their authenticity?" They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some "No." beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," "That is also quite modern," said the lady. "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that bearing upon the case." "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup "Was the window open?" air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the this man was intellectual?" events, Mr. Windibank!" "No, distinctly professional." as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. "No." "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, "Married! When?" more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in his face which made him a very different person to the round, he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" to a light-house. The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the you found me to-night--and running through the front room she that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves "But his left-handedness." Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. "I say it is." them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in crime. 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him breakfast and whispered something to her husband. is acting for the best. in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I really the only notable feature about the thing." was a lad." hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if you give your casting vote to?" of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an yourselves in at night?" days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, "That is unusual in a young girl." quite distinctive." "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in my secret was safe in his possession. presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, the nursery. charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that man. I know him from the photograph." "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same to change my dress. garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could "You forget that I know nothing about it." his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he it." whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was upon the shelf for the interim." once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed "What have you done?" asked Holmes. had died away into the silence from which it rose. and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who "What, then, did Peterson do?" "Why did you beat the pavement?" should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed there in twenty minutes." league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some letters?" "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in directors, with the result that you have seen." nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a weapon." my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of "He slept on the premises." he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend important." and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which "Won't it ring?" well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, "And how did you find out?" my little problems." game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment discontent upon his features. the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the papers must be those that are destroyed.' you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an forebodings. blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its again on its way. his huge brown hands. him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is lips." ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round I took the paper from him and read as follows: again on its way. journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the pressing in one house as in another. "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter in a friendly supper." the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. it." "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." politicians who had been sent down from the North. "Has he come with you to-night?" Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. and looked back. "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of of receipt of the work. has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon get the tickets." surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. long narrative. his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted "No. What a strange idea!" wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill signal between you and your father? "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having and put his glass in his pocket. to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream "That's no good." accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of "Of what?" and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, it with his own hands." "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is make me his representative both with the servants and with the alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go third from London." Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you crime." "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies knowledge of the world." "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." an introduction to him?" "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as "Yesterday." fashion which was peculiar to him. the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by bed dies. Does not that strike you?" became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or