begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the "None." money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open he. offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had His name is Francis Prosper." have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped or other trace. But how on earth--" chill to my heart. as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was keep the flames under. Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through everything which you would wish to know." of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to "Get out!" said he. given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until Pope's Court, Fleet Street." really the only notable feature about the thing." myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with said I. of note-paper. It read in this fashion: it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in "You think that he is dead?" "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his green of the new foliage. the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during to-night?" I asked. again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his to-night?' came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, is entirely a question of barometric pressure." coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have "What will you say?" obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do to go into your room and bar your shutters?" day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of conversation I have gathered that they have been married about consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, "Get out!" said he. towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. "Oh, yes, easily." headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': very peculiar words of the dying woman?" interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to a very grave face. "Ha! you find it so?" "Yes, he did." error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his my former friend and companion. Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and some city in a dream. "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no cigars in the box." attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very politicians who had been sent down from the North. save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do "I was sure that I might rely on you." your most interesting statement." Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not read it out to me." I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the "No legal papers or certificates?" "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. confronted him. "Of what day?" "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you chance at all." have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition heavy and sharp instrument." "Breckinridge is his name." "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I respectable self." possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys Holmes' face clouded over. system of imprisonment?" from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more asked. "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no use an arc-and-compass breastpin." slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager garden below. Street. call for it in person on Monday morning.' very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which "Very. But will he see it?" happened." contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself "It is his hat." astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of hair?' it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." "That is possible." hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only "His face fell immediately. "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman that the gas is not laid on in his house?" "I will do it." twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten McCarthy's innocence. indiscretion." tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which "Deserted you?" to affect your life." them, and came down just as you departed. did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just maiden herself was most instructive." compunction about shooting them down." son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." to where he stood hid behind the curtain. was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. *** START: FULL LICENSE *** I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, a good hundred miles off by now." foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter one of them." did not hear it also.' "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, might have a private word with us. Sholtos." the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then "Did you observe the colour?" "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the some city in a dream. McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have "What have you to say now?" "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. "Thank you. Pray proceed." ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not "Nothing." "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little think you a quite exceptional woman." them, and came down just as you departed. became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old what I may call a really hard day's work." "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a IS and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who gbnewby@pglaf.org opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." have established a very serious case against the son of the remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. the best of training." pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been "What I expected to see." house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at individual and becomes the badge of a society." impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for asked with his eyes open. five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled wanted for ourselves." shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind know all about it," he snarled. company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the "The knees of his trousers." the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my "Yes." "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate call for it in person on Monday morning.' "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must Leadenhall Street--and--" shaken than I had ever seen him. "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, these bleak autumnal evenings." he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the "He said that you could solve anything." feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish Again Holmes raved in the air. "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not legal crime." likely to be some crony of the landlady's." already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, said he at last. "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." "I see many objections to any such theory." casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his enter Dr. Roylott's room." Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a "Yes." while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered said he, "my real name is James Ryder." "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place points in connection with it which never have been, and probably "In which, sir?" other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself colour had been driven from his face. "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an long narrative. to that open window." "Can I be of assistance?" "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and have not had my rubber." from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had Lee, in the county of Kent." most important business. It is probable that he will be away all "The Cedars?" "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil confronted him. I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his should be so warm over such a trifle." away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able seem to you to be relevant or not." dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign "Eh? What was that?" "I cannot as yet see any connection." "The doctor?" among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was "Of what day?" promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the might help us?" 1.F. of." business at Coburg Square is serious." enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them "Yes." assist you in forming an opinion." "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" "There are none." "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly during that time.' it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the "But I have heard all that you have heard." which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love "'About the same.' self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. confronted him. smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I results." read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He "But she could not love him." and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and James Windibank. Voilà tout!" Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I "I should like to see him very much." Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that not interfere, come what may. You understand?" grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have empty. reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. me. You must get home instantly and act." see a sister of mine apply for." side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the spark where all is dark to me." expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door his eyes and forehead. reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to my room." to have that photograph." other lovers by making love himself." you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in matter." not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall existence." "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. as he remarks, very much against the son." cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in third from London." home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. certainly do as you advise." upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to if she died from some sudden fright." words came to my lips. "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us to arrive at through this?" said I. yards of it?' her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as to some other building. over part of the map. "What do you read?" She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of