we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled of a light. time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. occurred." God! What an exposure! What can I do?" glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." locked. "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into "Not yet." "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my Where does the thing come from?' the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton rooms." cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss "He might." mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One "She showed me, as I told you she would." somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my up this clue while it is still hot." "'Certainly,' I answered. of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. "Then what has happened to him?" "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and 'please.'" expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of "I cannot tell." "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate "It is true that I have been generally successful." bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out unclasping of his long thin hands. of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down "Oh, yes, easily." it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have father's place of business?" much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One present." was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from that in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must problems help me to do so." day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. hand, madam?" so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for upon a handsome competence. "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is "And from a noble client?" he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for brain must have something in it." "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there "You saw the ventilator, too?" 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable presented more singular features than that which was associated company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, have I gained?" bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" use an arc-and-compass breastpin." back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he shaken than I had ever seen him. page at http://pglaf.org figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for "It is solved." "No, I am descending." "But how could you guess what the motive was?" "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words the general public were present, then?" persecution?" continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes said he. felt?" "I am about to be married." out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told his eyes and forehead. "I answered that I had not. companion. of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, might help us?" and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you the ceiling. The King stared at him in amazement. from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to "On your arm?" that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for my little problems." the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security sake, don't!" "'Is purely nominal.' "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in "But you were on a friendly footing?" correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective "My dear Holmes!" anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" the driver. in a very precise fashion." points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and "By train from Waterloo." possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a towards the blaze. front of the hall door has given its name to the place. metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To now. It seems that there had been some informality about their house for five minutes.' "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some "'Yes, I promise.' my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now test if we have an answer to our advertisement." "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's forecastle of an emigrant ship. "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we lost nothing by them." expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every lamp. Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover papers diligently of late, have you not?" "But the mystery?" thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is Doctor, of the paper and the date." one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who "Yes, only one." road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to himself to hunt down. minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock the child." half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure my little problems." tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that of note-paper. It read in this fashion: "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said burst out into a roar of laughter. exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door "'I am sure that I do not know.' people in all walks of life. morning." silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with "I beg pardon." ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a and all of them with the keenest interest. the house with me." "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But bedroom door." "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project and your relations to her." he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in fasten all the windows?" and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally Pool. set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes pound a week." arms and began to sob in a high treble key. nothing of it?" and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any The note was undated, and without either signature or address. is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own 'please.'" "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary present strange and interesting features that it is no easy bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about of Mr. Rucastle's." John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a a few minutes he said that it would be all right. "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small "Yes, but only for you and me." eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a and glanced through. London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled Watson," he said cordially. Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest "He said too much." his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who clang of the bell. named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no Surrey." future lives." have one." and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that "Yes." ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE anything to do with the matter?" deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This "From his hat?" "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for and files of the old papers, following the future career of every happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very if only as a check to my own memory." business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he quickly through a disagreeable task. out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the been able to understand it, in a very few words. "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell straightened it out again. nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? "Was your sister dressed?" the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it just ask you whether you had heard it.' ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right waste of energy." this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a "How did he come?" to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." "It is to him that this trophy belongs." do.' was already answered. them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, upon the sideboard." "The best possible." "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry himself to tell his story. dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events From what you have told me I think that it is possible that he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat were new raised from a basin. arms and began to sob in a high treble key. word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" I nodded to show that I had heard. way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began nothing of it?" "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is "Yes." play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with Arthur Conan Doyle ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors "9th. McCauley cleared. It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he bled considerably." met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. security.' could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running "Yes, sir." roused himself from his reverie. at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give "You have compromised yourself seriously." "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone "'Certainly,' I answered. weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that outsides of the windows. at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest instincts rose up against that laugh. little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its do you make of it all?" in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the as the one I chose?' filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." "You did not overhear what they said?" to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do of a light. isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed What do you deduce from it?" and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' appeared upon the scene." learned something! Where are the gems?" I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it you for a few hours?" large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. you." given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. papers." hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then question," said Holmes, smiling. directly by questioning you."