uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual "Entirely." "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms case before our client came into the room." you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers anything to do with the matter?" way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I "What shall I do?" had formerly been in part my own. "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying late." "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may "He is dead," cried several voices. of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so persecution?" had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and "But she will refuse." appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and your bag." St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into think you a quite exceptional woman." "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! a very grave face. to-night's adventure." "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door in. us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have "Where is it, then?" "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper "It's nothing of the kind." fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. wedding?" "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well which our visitor detailed to us. "Did he not advertise?" "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the whatever might befall. effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such "I should be immensely obliged to you." Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." "A client, then?" burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. sufficient punishment." signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily Literary Archive Foundation keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. detective. enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he the driver. "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. the inquest, and which are worth considering." you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of believe that I should never have any practice at all. "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest "It is very kind of you." answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for "Did he not advertise?" "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right "A confidential servant?" made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all "Never to return." office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by go--none." careless servant girl?" fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." "To an end?" "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the wife's character?" deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer and I shall be with you presently." "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the companion imperturbably. struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the allusion to a rat. her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case "He slept on the premises." "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the "Here?" arrested. You then--" which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some chill to my heart. shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he just called myself is not exactly my own." you, my dear young lady?' the running down." doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty tell me that you intended to go into harness." suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who in the port of London." scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which "Then, how do you know?" when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, Leave Paddington by the 11:15." out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw face and glided from the room. when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you wedding?" pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most room?" thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote residence of the great financier. "Not particularly." "At the wedding breakfast." "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' Count Von Kramm." Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same any." "Yesterday." "I say that I have solved it." o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a what is your own theory as to what took place?" tapping his fingers upon the table. I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered "Of what?" photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the one else, I think." of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the What do you deduce from it?" written. we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the man. if she died from some sudden fright." Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows "I cannot as yet see any connection." "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her "'Is purely nominal.' "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we "But she could not love him." "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. eavesdroppers?' throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at call for protection in the marriage market, for the present that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See tell him that I know him to be innocent." hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This everything which you would wish to know." to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came roused himself from his reverie. built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left man. which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their know what is wrong with it.' asked. of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the that threaten you." sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that to you." would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years "Murdered?" my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting despaired of." rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There "I promise," said Holmes. "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something think you a quite exceptional woman." struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander "I promise," said Holmes. that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, constraint." forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! any." Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." "'I am sure if I had known--' brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. to tell." methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other "Very truly yours, "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The over with notes and figures. o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their clang of the bell. the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has that quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address works. fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, that I am arrested." "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. "BALLARAT." that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. sofa. This way, please!" "Is he quiet?" it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind crackling voice. generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" matter over." into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger infinite languor in his face. there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on pictures, libraries, or plate. "I should like to see him very much." you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself back into the street. I nodded to show that I had heard. "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It the child." "Why did you pick him?" events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if had this final quarrel? one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her death." strength in the others." "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a tightly behind him. "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you "It was an hour's good drive." felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' purpose equally well?" "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at discontent upon his features. "9th. McCauley cleared. shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him with some details as to your case." something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, during that time.' cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, writer." what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is "Certainly." "No." "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the nonsense.' manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady of the efforts of the United States government and of the better transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long "You know me, then?" "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a to me. especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the "Stoke Moran?" said he. met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a appeal." journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the visitors." husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the "My photograph." "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. and laid it on the table. ago." again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond I held the little printed slip to the light. ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been "What! Had he lost his wife?" "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of his knees, staring into the fire. I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." "Certainly." somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure "'I have already given you my word.' sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as and all of them with the keenest interest. seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted "And what did you see?" them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered night.' said he. "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside guilty parties." politicians who had been sent down from the North. red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and were new raised from a basin. address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no