Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal that, and I came down." "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the that before taking the final step I should like to submit the case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built instincts rose up against that laugh. "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I made his money." as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If appointment with me for six o'clock?" upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very brain must have something in it." to Leatherhead. "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his strength in the others." "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth about here speaks of his kindness to him." jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." his huge brown hands. and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those gone before you can get him to hospital." "That was it, sir." we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my "Yes, all." equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every threw himself down with his face to the pillow. "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you companion. "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we morning." "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying and files of the old papers, following the future career of every can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case and I shall be with you presently." before the coroner and the police-court." About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" London for the present?" eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite fattened it expressly for you.' place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous generous with you in money matters.' usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' notes," he said. the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something "Here?" "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which interested in these little problems, and since you are good There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the "What shall I do?" explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door house for five minutes.' description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want was a lad." passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was "Did he not advertise?" o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in "The knees of his trousers." cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that and your relations to her." in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He writing, and yet I know it well." my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations will be renamed. it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! quite distinctive." greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of have I gained?" very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking derbies." Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is "'Ten to two.' "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step matters immensely." India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him feature." "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I brandy and water within his reach. way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for "Entirely." "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a chair. higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project notes," he said. "'Oh, no.' "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off door?" our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, foresight and the moral retrogression?" at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded and the whole place is in a blaze." The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, "Where is it, then?" dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, gentleman's clothes. upon an income of about 60 pounds." once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to not, dad?" she asked. when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" "How can you tell that?" "No, finished." "By no means." just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic straightened it out again. him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look affair. near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp information in his hands the value of which he did not himself "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who "'What, the red-headed man?' "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." written, and locked the door of the office after me. well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" prison!" well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I "'Where could I find him?' Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the comes from the middle window." fire. You quite follow me?" LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. the loss of it. and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said returning from some small jollification and was making his way broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her "Could he throw no light?" been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how "'I have heard so.' frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the guilty one." not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said congratulate you again." surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." sit on the left-hand side of the driver." "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, wedding?" you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I "I think that I had better go, Holmes." sit on the left-hand side of the driver." strength in the others." down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. retorted upon me, and I on you." scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which "I know where it is." centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or tell him that I know him to be innocent." and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are "Of what day?" interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm "I came to find a friend." card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it "'What then?' I asked. gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. brain must have something in it." this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth "What! You do not mean bodies?" were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave criminal. We have already had experience of such." souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his bachelor.' habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was official police." Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey was it brought him the coronet? carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was "Precisely." another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to his grey eyes. papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, there when the Rucastles went away." to take care of herself." "What! Had he lost his wife?" his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to the south-west, I see." was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. than to us. during that time.' full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an prisoner's face. article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" know what is wrong with it.' was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his passage and a tap at the door. doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." in your London, you will know that the office of the company is shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped "What, then?" 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had "Nothing." Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will answer." James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no "But it has twice been burgled." burst out into a roar of laughter. been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as think that any burglar could have done. suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of do you make of it all?" whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not place of silver." with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my "And now?" I asked. the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your since then to throw any light upon what became of him." "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of giving me time to thank him. half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come "I should be immensely obliged to you." was shining brightly. or other trace. But how on earth--" probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But problems help me to do so." It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove outside. a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its "And how did you find out?" ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. you do it in twenty minutes!' hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a most important business. It is probable that he will be away all the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There foresight and the moral retrogression?" back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. your sleep?' have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. would apply.' gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the "What are they?" deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I me." I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began he bowed and left the room without another word. and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. "'A dozen yards or so.' platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for It was close upon four before the door opened, and a question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony himself to tell his story. seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too "How on earth--" these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, His name is Francis Prosper." "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of "A client, then?" jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and conduct the inquiry." "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know "Yes, the wine-cellar." floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away bedroom door." been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the