"More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were later, upon the night of May 2nd." "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had Young McCarthy must be got off, however." sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a have had none more fantastic than this." at a side door. can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. "It came here." pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, triumphant cloud from his cigarette. "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow washing it down with a long draught of water. Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local people don't know." connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which how narrow had been my escape. characteristics, but those are the more obvious." point our research must commence, and we will begin it by occupations.' prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? it were putty." the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up it right.' lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong presume?" you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three have I gained?" given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." fact, we may call it conclusive." "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some "Look there!" said he. "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not "10th. John Swain cleared. and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few "Well." Count Von Kramm." without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain might help us?" "That's no good." blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as there is a decided draught." her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was The King stared at him in amazement. companion. down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from companion quietly. pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would friends, not even his own brother. throat." The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of was shining brightly. "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did "What do you make of that, Watson?" "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were "It is possible." would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his "Imitated." door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler envelope. blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking had this final quarrel? "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it "What is it, then--a fire?" "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second has little to do with my story." The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but weigh very heavily upon my conscience." there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the crime. "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off papers must be those that are destroyed.' brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. father's young wife. have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It "'Is 4 pounds a week.' leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," "Not social, then?" "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we happened." "I am to be neutral?" "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" him!" important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The notes," he said. enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be "I should wish to." "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my "So it appears." that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." forebodings. once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, tear off another piece?' constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to relation between them, and what the object of his repeated tell him that I know him to be innocent." through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." "Only as much as we can deduce." all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the it means?" money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said brain must have something in it." man. I know him from the photograph." crime." "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent character. "Yes, only one." you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between made him keep the appointment." address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other "But you can know nothing of this?" "Precisely so. But how--" it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say "Where is it, then?" for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, it." fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. down from London to inquire more deeply into it." practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that "You know me, then?" safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming For additional contact information: weigh very heavily upon my conscience." wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. tassel actually lying upon the pillow. "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how "I have solved it." last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have and glanced through. done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered that I am arrested." "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. 'please.'" are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." his grey eyes. all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon "Witness: I must still refuse. or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' "Certainly, madam." meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in wedding?" "But she could not love him." repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to open." when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive "Entirely." open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' matters immensely." dramatic, in fact." "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall existence." I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I "And why?" seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from weighed down with some great anxiety. passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which to-night?" I asked. can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the "Look there!" said he. had died away into the silence from which it rose. I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for "'A dozen yards or so.' "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. few hundred pounds.' opened the door, and slipped through. front of me. lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. "What then?" whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved instincts rose up against that laugh. "Yes." "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it to tell." About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things her also." "'How far from the body?' "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask "Why, it's a dummy," said he. agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I rat could hardly pass through." really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't "It goes to the housekeeper's room." "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that "Not particularly." across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words on in his house." suspect him." you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here and I shall be with you presently." "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." you, my dear young lady?' "The gentleman I describe." "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I have had none more fantastic than this." "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that do.' sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when "'What, the red-headed man?' us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment cigar and let me expound." the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's politicians who had been sent down from the North. blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast "I would pay ten." "The Cedars?" very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and emerged. your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a of it with the greatest attention. "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot one of them." since then to throw any light upon what became of him." shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my made him keep the appointment." redistribution. "My private note-paper." dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was foot. have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." "And how have you succeeded?" to that open window." engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am "You have carte blanche." "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, wife's character?" ceremony." row." that you wished to speak to me?' paper in the air. bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project "The Coroner: What do you mean? "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away photograph a cabinet?" "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is constraint." "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I sentimental considerations in the background which would induce breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and again before evening." "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with and your relations to her." Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge the bed, and you in that chair." confronted him. "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted know what is wrong with it.' to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the "Ah!" Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he charge against him will break down." if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the the date of his supposed suicide." "One of his hands." and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in said he. fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid on in his house." "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which wedding?" down from London to inquire more deeply into it." "Ample." would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your 11:15.' "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave "No legal papers or certificates?" you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm his fortune, and I went back to pa. likely to be some crony of the landlady's." "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every photograph?" explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank "What shall I do?" "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly "It may not come to that," said Holmes. search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. one of the states of the Union." from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On had formerly been in part my own. Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern over here." round and wave him away like that.' recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased get her out of the way." black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her not fit the lock." suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three just ask you whether you had heard it.' do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the discontent upon his features. of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the married her." Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner strength in the others." object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to what is your own theory as to what took place?" "The gentleman I describe." read over the extraordinary announcement. yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. conduct the inquiry." was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had