"Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to "I promise," said Holmes. horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion you." it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and not fit the lock." "A thing like a cleaver," said he. We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in "May I see it?" "Will you go?" her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and death." public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp and the whole place is in a blaze." how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? passage and a tap at the door. "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that within hail.' disturbance in my wife." during the last few years, and there are many noble families to I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I persecution?" "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to strength in the others." Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of "And on what day did he meet his death?" "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a you do it in twenty minutes!' lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man that I am arrested." star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' interested in these little problems, and since you are good posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was "I answered that I had not. garden below. "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making drove away. photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do she used." cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his question you as to those details which seem to me to be most I took the paper from him and read as follows: or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should asked. trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter if I call to-morrow?" hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see the so-precious time, but come!' client, rising. their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the outbreak?" 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, dates and names. away in different directions, and I went off to make my own "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia have I gained?" and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us occupations.' the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, are, I think, all that we need." Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been individual and becomes the badge of a society." "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire "You saw the ventilator, too?" "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened "Can I be of assistance?" transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my the driver. we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to "Yes." "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, "Just look it up, then." mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally followed. words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler "'Oh, no.' do.' chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the you." "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave "Then how many are there?" human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual the room while you explain this matter?" Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to daring than any effort of the imagination." "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap "I answered that I had not. is now desirous of getting those letters back." vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." made his money." from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If "Absolutely?" Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a that?' good-night and bustled off upon her way. "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we License. You must require such a user to return or spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the do.' "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that "Dr. Becher's." apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across leave you to your papers for a little." having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful round and wave him away like that.' never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the wall." papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the to that open window." deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by along the entire front of the house, with three long windows hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor hard-headed British jury." whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. "My private note-paper." that I can to serve you." "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two in his power. "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with "Won't it ring?" ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. disappearance of these gems?" "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural "It's nothing of the kind." from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in must be when I saw the door open.' observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When But Holmes shook his head gravely. until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though the driver. there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew During two years I have had three consultations and one small There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, "'Ample.' to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was test if we have an answer to our advertisement." broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she "And what then?" which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving which are rolled in Rotterdam." jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, "I don't say that. Perhaps." lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting "'And what are they worth?' I asked. suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two "Then you may be so with me." "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do "I say that I have solved it." secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for enter into my head. am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. Street. know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was four million human beings all jostling each other within the Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very you?" "I say it is." points to suicide?" a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs "Never." "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, sneer upon his pale face. following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being that I may have something better before very many minutes are fuss that is made over them." attention." continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes the loss of it. "What then?" tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters "Very well, sir. And this stone?" one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention "Where is it, then?" world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the and that he would see to anything that turned up. himself to hunt down. room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the in his power. month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his out of this horrible affair." "Dirty?" to talk it over. am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an guilty parties." Dr. Gregory B. Newby sit on the left-hand side of the driver." frequently gained my first real insight into the character of for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. "Of what?" "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their "Were they all fastened this morning?" "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers must compliment you." at once, for I have only half an hour." wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he highroad, where all traces were lost. sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a know that the truth is known." battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you said he. the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in seem to you to be relevant or not." threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns "But how?" only touch the interest." you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of three fields round his house, and there he would take his LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR bled considerably." horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias have had none more fantastic than this." burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will "Nearly eleven." to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my your equipment. matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to comes from the middle window." Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I Pool. scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." when your master had gone out." Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too "Tired-looking or fresh?" to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and up this clue while it is still hot." To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard "What will you say?" defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our province." beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone girl said." "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we with you?" arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get cigars in their mouths. there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable http://www.gutenberg.net Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of "No, my brougham is waiting." and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic "And how?" sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress "What then?" understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, British peeress.'" yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the purpose equally well?" "Well, it is a possible supposition." "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself at home. here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. tell him that I know him to be innocent." conclusions. "Pray continue your narrative." shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit "Game for a morning drive?" been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones possible that we could bring him back to her? questioning and rather startled gaze. was a lad." standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five