Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how look upon these things in a different way." the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no place no limit on the sum I may draw." believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking "No, but the enclosure is." shoulder. human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant that he will be back before evening." assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and "But how will you look?" "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite have had none more fantastic than this." the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I "What will you do, then?" secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away "Precisely so. But how--" he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or of campaign. "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is danger is over." mysterious business." "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could weigh very heavily upon my conscience." following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very the Assizes." rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would "You have it, sir, just as it happened." and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In "But how?" finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with depend upon your compliance." first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is man. have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may there." may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, ourselves in the office." "Who by?" decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have should be so warm over such a trifle." daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his there when the Rucastles went away." shall not find me ungrateful." he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like fatally injured? had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, London for the present?" envelope. inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that "Where to?" he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the fat-encircled eyes. line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. lumber-room." directors, with the result that you have seen." "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would "You'll never persuade me to believe that." his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every seven miles from Eyford Station.' hands. was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." girl said." values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a written. "Nearly eleven." the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in away in different directions, and I went off to make my own months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was "But how will you look?" three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which Young McCarthy must be got off, however." a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then will not take me long to tell. Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To "I think it very unlikely." "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. singular points about the case. What did the police think of the face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I records." "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. "I will do it." the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will what I may call a really hard day's work." may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." "And what did you learn from him?" A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to shoulder; "he's all right." charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police the nursery. my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle "Not I." "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss companion. garden below. "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen seen the man in the road." Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were "It is his hat." "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually John Swain, of St. Augustine. point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting will he say when he returns?" Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent ceremony." and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house noise which awoke you from your sleep?" way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to tension within him. "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the weigh very heavily upon my conscience." Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end to have been novel and of interest." over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. directors, with the result that you have seen." one of the states of the Union." attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. indeed happy." robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. arrangements." there was no need for father to know." sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter something of him before." "You think so, too?" I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in "Always." understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting with frightened eyes at his accuser. "I don't say that. Perhaps." has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I really the only notable feature about the thing." state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the detective. young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, call for it in person on Monday morning.' "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed brain must have something in it." your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the if I call to-morrow?" "By no means." "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." "Were they all fastened this morning?" papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, to a light-house. second window is the one that I jumped from." half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly carriage. It was a chestnut." clanging. The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take of this gang." helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." other, as fresh and trim as possible. "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning "Holmes, the busybody!" as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay weigh very heavily upon my conscience." lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another door?" Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was his wife has ceased to love him." Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for upon a handsome competence. mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my asked. key turn in the lock." her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they lumber-room." drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of "Certainly." attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about it." position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent as yours." the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my signal between you and your father? "She told me to ask you." stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I "Murdered?" arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so get her out of the way." "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon "Here?" "BALLARAT." remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is "Murdered?" and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a that he will be back before evening." not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been ago." back into the street. appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of sooner or later she must fall a victim. "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you himself. moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. politicians who had been sent down from the North. me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or you." "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of Watson," he said cordially. We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an "'Yes, it was gone.' up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he you came in." unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the "'In my own bureau.' constraint." never to learn it at all." the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been ways including including checks, online payments and credit card "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to thirty. observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were "I am still in the dark." window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause records." the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid the coronet at all injured?" forbidden door. sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. "It missed him, then?" your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a which was all perfectly true. "That was it, sir." the house with me." "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. I nodded again. Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar papers." I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. "It's nothing of the kind." something of him before." someone who had been in Australia." "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I "I am about to be married." might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that "But I have heard all that you have heard." introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" highly," said Holmes. his face which made him a very different person to the round, remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the companion imperturbably. Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped throat." suddenly upon us." shall use the carriage to-night." companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question "Perhaps we may make them less so." Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my "Pray be precise as to details," said he. "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy security.' think, you have already met." that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey "You are certainly joking, Holmes." as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to the matter?" "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. "Yes." "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, "Why did you beat the pavement?" have an American origin." and I shall be with you presently." thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the "I don't say that. Perhaps." was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and been with you?" may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child come either from the window or the door. My attention was turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good