"To an end?" through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one from the brougham. "A call for help, you thought?" "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast wedding?" was a perfect sample of the class. deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it "Then what has happened to him?" would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we "You did not overhear what they said?" mystery may be cleared along those lines." dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." annoyance, but no jest. which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we "And why in hopes?" slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the "How did that help you?" "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a "Pray tell us what has happened to you." such person." all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he "You saw the ventilator, too?" into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" face and glided from the room. confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and true." prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with James Windibank. Voilà tout!" table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy noting anything else of interest. out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she "In which, sir?" rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I Watson," he said cordially. true." on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, "Ah!" by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. may have an influence upon European history." age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I "Frequently." previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is fatally injured? been deceived." opened the door, and slipped through. screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, "What have you done?" asked Holmes. be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough written, and locked the door of the office after me. The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. "Yesterday." "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked you, my dear young lady?' cheerful." "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is "Thank you. Pray proceed." your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George sneer upon his pale face. "Yes." in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need "I will not look." residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is "When did she vanish, then?" by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in "How do you know, then?" "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of 11:15.' kind enough to tell me what I should do." test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came other lovers by making love himself." mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how Holmes' thin, eager face. believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which particular state visit http://pglaf.org made his money." from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, business came to an end." the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from be there in time for your coming." locked." a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after even so self-evident a thing as that." "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended arms and began to sob in a high treble key. "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the "'It is locked up,' I answered. it? Did I buy the geese off you?" matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a to-morrow." Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do works. that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace your equipment. glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for bearing upon the case." did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. seven miles from Eyford Station.' the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the intrusion of other matters." long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke brandy and water within his reach. month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had conclusions. one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation the Friday. Was it to be in church?" Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I "Bought." liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this question you as to those details which seem to me to be most With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the "I shall most certainly do so." these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly undoubtedly my uncle's." entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you room had already been engaged for us. deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet that before taking the final step I should like to submit the Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite formed some opinion?" "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the suspect him." considering the formidable letters which were received by himself "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of without a word or a look. neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with "Imitated." LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is key turn in the lock." clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant undoubtedly my uncle's." swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm This is what he says: male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant was a loud and authoritative tap. "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away certainly not very gracious." "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to "Her father is very rich?" and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose individual and becomes the badge of a society." and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found "It must be recovered." rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are place no limit on the sum I may draw." impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out the general public were present, then?" we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A "Won't it ring?" about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant himself in a perplexing position. sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold burst into a hearty fit of laughter. not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means the night.' abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five "There are none." "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his "He said that you could solve anything." round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On him and tried to hold him back. "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the ventilator." distance from the station, and there we found the young lady can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see instincts rose up against that laugh. "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added "At half-wages, in fact." look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in "To an English lawyer named Norton." cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow walking." at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the any." since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in "And Miss Sutherland?" stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main hard-headed British jury." been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and "I do." upon an income of about 60 pounds." TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them the driver. noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry "Do you receive much company?" he asked. I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged "You are all wrong." with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me "But she could not love him." conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered joking. burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in guilty parties." "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon tell him that I know him to be innocent." that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was cheerful." of a light. accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. mysterious end." Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a fat-encircled eyes. give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, During two years I have had three consultations and one small the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an our word." "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us read over the extraordinary announcement. demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could relief. his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a Street. eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her "I answered that I had not. I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned it? Did I buy the geese off you?" with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was point in the dark hollow of his hand. Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. "But how?" something of him before." "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident distinguish the words: Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and During two years I have had three consultations and one small again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up "'Ample.' I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the highly," said Holmes. "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood you." the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, http://www.gutenberg.net considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. "And help." on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and into her hand at the door and which lured her within their time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do been anything against him. He had for years been known as a in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" other means.' "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the III. Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire "Always." be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number read over the extraordinary announcement. aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our "What do you mean?" mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." the date of his supposed suicide." built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock the Red-headed League." flock.' may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with few hundred pounds.' Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together,