in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until my special province." rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the said I. this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but stammered. "Get out!" said he. "But how?" heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our into the room. James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said to take care of herself." for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so "You will not go there first?" "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the for and were ordered to this address. employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" formed some opinion?" you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' "It was." he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out "Thank you. Pray proceed." cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" coat-tails." have had none more fantastic than this." "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, tell him that I know him to be innocent." The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from "'Most admirably.' the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and "I should wish to." week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were security.' daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his "I cannot as yet see any connection." after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" became a certainty. "Her father is very rich?" until night should bring an explanation. every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow "Never to return." little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was crackling voice. "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in "But you can know nothing of this?" the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. "I am still in the dark." room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated "But what will you do?" certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has lamp. had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the could not have written that. It is the German who is so A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when "'Where to?' warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather meanly of me." and that he would see to anything that turned up. this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they "Now, then, what's the last entry?" here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out "What is it?" "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of the running down." state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross "Yes, that is the Crown." the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings the coronet in his hands?" or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must "And you don't know his address?" warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." gone. made him keep the appointment." the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm young Openshaw's." "And why?" a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed way in everything. compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were outbreak?" Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish conclusions. all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own "'Stolen!' he cried. sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I again, where I was soon asleep. brought there to personate someone, and the real person is "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. hair?' "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and without success. At last the little money which I had saved began have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. someone who had been in Australia." "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the be.' his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were jewels which you have stolen?' anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, "I would pay ten." be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child "It missed him, then?" particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a developed." "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." "Well, but China?" 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method note?" self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning flock.' Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it of." down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project annoyance, but no jest. "He might." it." summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master triumphant cloud from his cigarette. away in different directions, and I went off to make my own on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems characteristics, but those are the more obvious." comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project or in danger--" are, I think, all that we need." opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently manager. deduce something from that?" that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, "Then, as to money?" "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two works. the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which in your London, you will know that the office of the company is drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah "The knees of his trousers." "Oh, fresh and glossy." you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I events than those which have happened in my own family." relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among prove to be little relation between the different incidents of black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you "One?" if I call to-morrow?" do.' "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable it. had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my voice, changing her seat as requested. I nodded again. "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of it. were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a discontent upon his features. Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, minor matters until to-morrow." few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would http://www.gutenberg.net "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age "Why? What do you mean?" for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all certainly do as you advise." the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of "And how did you find out?" grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. were unconscious?" away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in of the way of danger. daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but call you and give you the chance." "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose "But what will you do?" strength." a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought what I may call a really hard day's work." INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH McCarthy." following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must me. For additional contact information: "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." "How many? I don't know." continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where any." "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab place, I think that there is good ground to think that the headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him in him." hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a Heh?' cost them two and thirty pounds." there when the Rucastles went away." deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his of the vacancies.' closely." ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" will not take me long to tell. analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." in a very precise fashion." The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as and the church but not where the lady lived." disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper "I cannot say that I have." returned to France?" almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or been anything against him. He had for years been known as a Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside Mrs. Toller serenely. more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the "It was an hour's good drive." serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains "How did you deduce the select?" have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view His smile broadened. evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you strength." well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade notes," he said. "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come entirely devoid of interest." "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other dates and names. "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and "He disappeared so suddenly." subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." "No bad?" Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive a monotonous occupation." "Now, then, what's the last entry?" eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden him nearly every evening." "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have copied or distributed: more terrible than the truth. "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that him!" it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We vault. hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an your room." which was all perfectly true. the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret "Has he come with you to-night?" to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." his grey eyes. hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your just ask you whether you had heard it.' quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the waste of energy." "Won't it ring?" As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" seem to you to be relevant or not." With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl careless servant girl?" definite end. was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he "That is also quite modern," said the lady. Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the bedroom door." after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, "Yes." expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to before, for it was considerably after midnight. "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an one of them." St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." so far?" appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg