there!' seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or friends, not even his own brother. glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was "And how in the world did you find them?" you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. one of them." possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or that you can jump it.' greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I easy-going way." Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he "You think that he is dead?" cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of "What do you make of that, Watson?" "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress woman who has had her own way to make in the world. him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to of campaign. cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. "I assure you that I am in your hands." thin, with a long, sharp nose?" of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock "Pray tell us what has happened to you." and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." answer." his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has posted to-day." always that they were such commands as a lady might with grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, writing, and yet I know it well." ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere held up the lantern and gazed about him. gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and he died? receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a the one as in the other." "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she acquaintance?" conceal it?" "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of recall any case within my experience which looked at the first "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into easy-going way." thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were deduce something from that?" wedding?" "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." sake, don't!" the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning "Yes, it was twisted." "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own It may be so in this case, also." light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy "Why did you beat the pavement?" "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that redistribution. "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of "So I am. Very much so." him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his unprecedented a position." "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the bore every mark of being an average commonplace British ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger "And did you observe any change in her then?" "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see recover the gem." Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great became a certainty. safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming him nearly every evening." "I cannot tell." drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the place no limit on the sum I may draw." point in the dark hollow of his hand. his wife has ceased to love him." "May I see it?" armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." could gather together that I was able to avert another public believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the "Yes. He waved his hands." be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away "'Most admirably.' clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the in his power. "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand answered with a sidelong glance. nonsense.' for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed "It is to him that this trophy belongs." frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to "I will do it." experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday leave you to your papers for a little." Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no "You'll never persuade me to believe that." they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in very old mansion. 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which status with the IRS. better in every way that they should make their position a little and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the "The murder was done with it." might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There your Highness to the police-station?" course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a of them has the shutters up.' freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards awaited us upon the table. day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were just ask you whether you had heard it.' now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty "By train from Waterloo." the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. there were so many in the whole country as were brought together I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into "And is that all?" There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its "I see no marks." do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a "Well, but China?" hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was thirty. Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of round with crates and massive boxes. his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it hour?' "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, must be when I saw the door open.' us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. "'Certainly not.' client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting address. and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting October 9, 1890. "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a for its centre. was a perfect sample of the class. emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, correct than the official force." "So I am. Very much so." continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a such person." all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this The note was undated, and without either signature or address. "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your sooner or later she must fall a victim. I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather over with notes and figures. trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" sit on the left-hand side of the driver." Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not "'As governess?' his wife has ceased to love him." how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that "You know me, then?" "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" approach us with offers to donate. "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the do you make of it all?" window when the police appeared." 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg drawing your inferences." "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove future lives." contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. imbecility!" he cried. "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the himself to hunt down. "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See hands. where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming "That is also quite modern," said the lady. seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. "What office?" he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of "It is possible." "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a "It is to him that this trophy belongs." "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then residence of the great financier. are, I think, all that we need." British peeress.'" For additional contact information: and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest to-night?' room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a License. You must require such a user to return or much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right "You think so, too?" As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round such attractions and accomplishments?' I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism lumber-room." the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the was the fact that his father should, according to his account, The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." never came back." tail." the window, rose as we entered. have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and that before taking the final step I should like to submit the a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling had picked up in the wood. "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave "One of his hands." very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet several quiet little villages up there." would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the papers must be those that are destroyed.' brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which present." particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with door?" which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily see me here to avoid scandal." Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had "About a month then." "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and "We were both in the photograph." "It was a confession," I ejaculated. tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." your only hope of safety." "9th. McCauley cleared. misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as it." one which it was hard to resist. you in yours." cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a "Did you observe the colour?" "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew then?" Lestrade of Scotland Yard." given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." "How did you deduce the select?" of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case "Yes, they were peculiar boots." poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me "The decline of his fortunes, then?" object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the light and attacked it." wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the sufficient punishment." Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he "It is no ordinary one." "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a comes from the middle window." entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the father's young wife. was a perfect sample of the class. errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the late!' whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her think you a quite exceptional woman." galvanised. "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the future lives." Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become geese which you supplied to the Alpha." "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now fattened it expressly for you.' Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. of." sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by ready to-morrow?' clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their