"'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations events, Mr. Windibank!" the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** criminal. We have already had experience of such." to-night." Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. be there in time for your coming." "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" "No, thank goodness, she did not." his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the there!' "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was sufficient punishment." house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered upon an income of about 60 pounds." "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his all-comprehensive glances. overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to up this clue while it is still hot." He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of kind enough to tell me what I should do." can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. stalked out of the room. without a word or a look. equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." the Red-headed League." of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as companion. other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't "I will do it." fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought "Yes. He waved his hands." "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt be. tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain Eyford at 11:15.' the child." which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his the room while you explain this matter?" I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush of the one which your family is now devouring." habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained "'Certainly not.' corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the "And what did you learn from him?" do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly "Texas, I think." particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since "Yes, it would be as well." all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. "It is a murder, then?" villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up intrusion of other matters." speckled band?" the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began "I see many objections to any such theory." were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in his forehead." of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." records." Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, which it had come upon my father." from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the annoyance, but no jest. piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband without a word or a look. "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not "Of what day?" "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his "If so, much may have happened between." departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. both be extremely obliged.' shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never green of the new foliage. I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how be sorry for having acted so harshly." January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my from you?" "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, "It may not come to that," said Holmes. evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag searched, without anything being found which could incriminate that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all "And you thought he was pulled back?" since then to throw any light upon what became of him." singular points about the case. What did the police think of the this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. back alive. be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked "She told me to ask you." daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly always that they were such commands as a lady might with "Well?" pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting front of the hall door has given its name to the place. both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently I was concerned in it." "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now go back?" that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some "The murder was done with it." "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to "I cannot tell." "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the strong reason behind." depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. "'As governess?' after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the letters?" "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not "That you are never beaten." must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is "When did it break out?" said I. than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and gigantic client. room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope "You saw the ventilator, too?" against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to "Not I." interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room bore every mark of being an average commonplace British lost his Christmas dinner." been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." Lestrade of Scotland Yard." for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of I think that I could be of assistance to you." recall any case within my experience which looked at the first sit on the left-hand side of the driver." dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was fait accompli?" "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said "Here?" second." introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" "'Certainly not. But why?' a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, that there was nothing in it, after all." enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I reach." trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I "My photograph." "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed "But how will you look?" bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of he bowed and left the room without another word. places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he wall." course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do four million human beings all jostling each other within the the house with me." "How long did she speak to this Alice?" front of me. is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, comes from the middle window." interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage "Very murderous indeed." course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can think, you have already met." Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: know that the truth is known." of his shoulders. paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the Again Holmes raved in the air. "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for just called myself is not exactly my own." and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get case-book, which he consulted. thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. companion imperturbably. was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to use an arc-and-compass breastpin." lids now and glanced across at his visitor. began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy away into the river." off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in "I will, Miss Turner." o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and cigars in the box." "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is This is what he says: "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three you in your example." that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call round and wave him away like that.' star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was "Proceed, then." "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." whole matter to your consideration." seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then "Entirely." "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the "'Where to?' believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less his wife has ceased to love him." matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" take the flies, but not before." child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it the house with me." the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" "Is he quiet?" Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. question you as to those details which seem to me to be most you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned "Then he might have called to you?" the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." neither fascinating nor artistic." corner of the building. widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, prisoner's face. "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the "On Monday." my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for "His face fell immediately. shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the "It is very kind of you." my secret was safe in his possession. "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have "What have you to say now?" "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore Project Gutenberg-tm works. agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All