"'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just room. they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of hand, madam?" my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards if I call to-morrow?" and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire "In the cells." card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the come either from the window or the door. My attention was "'Where could I find him?' "I answered that I had not. "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this anything to a woman, for she would have her way." "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' "The vanishing of the lady." nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I sofa. This way, please!" "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, and effective." Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the of Fenchurch Street." see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and the warnings." "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether neither fascinating nor artistic." keep the flames under. whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a envelope. plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking "That's no good." "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil obstinate." sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some McCarthy." "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we lips." closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or "Where did you address your letters, then?" no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a shoulder; "he's all right." south, for the country is more deserted there." key turn in the lock." "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would Mrs. Toller serenely. your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local "And how did you verify them?" It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, three fields round his house, and there he would take his as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can "Certainly." "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have six. Come in!" innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the opened the door, and slipped through. 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed least a fellow-countryman. work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so papers diligently of late, have you not?" morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the money should be paid at once.' "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by details." "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. humiliation." broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened himself to hunt down. "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves into the bag, and made for the door. errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate to a light-house. Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which hard-headed British jury." large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant crime. conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, matters immensely." Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." "Get out!" said he. from the brougham. the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of could gather together that I was able to avert another public let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the other means.' eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every "Entirely." is," said he presently: may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, "None." request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion handed it to him. "So I am. Very much so." brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a "And what then?" and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. "To an end?" provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important enter Dr. Roylott's room." to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We "VIOLET HUNTER." and no precautions can guard against." "'Certainly,' I answered. crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just "The Coroner: What do you mean? stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the I nodded to show that I had heard. "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for respectable self." know that the truth is known." ordinary clothes on?" "I do." and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the "Very well, sir. And this stone?" "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at she used." relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the enter into my head. such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. people don't know." other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to "Oh, the cause is excellent!" "An accident, I presume?" feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this to where he stood hid behind the curtain. I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that "Nothing." "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that careless servant girl?" corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" read over the extraordinary announcement. The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I points in connection with it which never have been, and probably "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than dates and names. "Thank you. And your address?" "Yes, that is the Crown." about. his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and "Your French gold?" strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? exactly what you advise." In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, "You will not go there first?" God! What an exposure! What can I do?" them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. "Yes." His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they "I came to find a friend." look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the your room." "And for present expenses?" "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and "And you thought he was pulled back?" "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, once more on the important position which you have been fortunate "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. writing, and yet I know it well." Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose "There is the writing." figure." think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." acted in my house last night?" half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little question you as to those details which seem to me to be most subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this "You think that he is dead?" vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, society." roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' made his money." to go into your room and bar your shutters?" opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every bled considerably." bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. forehead. "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you "Stoke Moran?" said he. doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared the running down." "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when "Dr. Becher's." formed some opinion?" "'And what salary do you ask?' "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of intrusion of other matters." given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." "At half-wages, in fact." charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." "Witness: It was. there in twenty minutes." heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out back into the street. "My Mary? Impossible!" to me. "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe manager. this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he "No. His orders were to stay in the house." "Well, some hundreds of times." you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret "Was he the only applicant?" It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the girl said." remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. "She showed me, as I told you she would." the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place "But what harm can there be in that?" "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet begin with, and I had not got mine yet." Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. arrested. You then--" newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic important." "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel place, I think that there is good ground to think that the Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." Edgeware Road. A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his "I don't say that. Perhaps." "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no "ARAT," I read. "I came to find a friend." point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, I think that I could be of assistance to you." not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, 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 I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." "And from a noble client?" Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell mysterious end." drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we rat could hardly pass through." said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to way in." a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not relation between them, and what the object of his repeated to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." "To the police?" be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. where she found matters as described by the last witness. Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time in this note: few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all Dr. Gregory B. Newby complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and enter Dr. Roylott's room." "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. the morning and make my own way in the world.' which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an charged with?" multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it excitement. my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been front of the hall door has given its name to the place. over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two charge against him will break down." Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' gives a meaning to it." civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. comes from the middle window." this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a "In which, sir?" ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet "Nearly eleven." "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all."