with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his fait accompli?" writers could invent nothing more crude." possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I were new raised from a basin. "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his companion imperturbably. was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly see me here to avoid scandal." precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." "Awake, Watson?" he asked. The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective locked. Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, not use it unless it is absolutely needed." friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it "What will you say?" golden eyeglasses. "'In my own bureau.' "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon "Always." "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and conclusions. "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has served to weaken the effect. paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black you." in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and been shamefully used." but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my "Only as much as we can deduce." my little problems." work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official "It is true that I have been generally successful." was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court friends, not even his own brother. window when the police appeared." sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I "By no means." "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate "Oh, the cause is excellent!" in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, "Yes." matter over." creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little entirely lost his self-respect." but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to "But you can know nothing of this?" there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden "Pray continue your narrative." "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. cheerful." ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge During two years I have had three consultations and one small object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which guilty one." stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the and inquire as to the address." "One of his hands." "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. are windows in it, of course?" possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, quick march!" things are very often connected not with the larger but with the "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my States. my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing "None." know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began key of the affair now." stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, "Then you may be so with me." o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that "Yes, it would be as well." "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. legal crime." "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were you understand?" "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." felt?" Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good entirely devoid of interest." absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of "What?" "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen footfalls from the street. "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though guilty parties." congratulate you again." year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for I nodded again. have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to mysterious business." "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De least a most suspicious remark." "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do The police have openly confessed that they can at present make distance from the station, and there we found the young lady Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to tell him that I know him to be innocent." this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, things are very often connected not with the larger but with the "What do you make of that, Watson?" "Witness: Nothing definite. first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is strength in the others." "No." We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there union?" me. You must get home instantly and act." them?" some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended may have an influence upon European history." front of me. "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I "I never have." that, and I came down." laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They sooner or later she must fall a victim. how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. "Then you may entirely rely on me." his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a will be renamed. you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in to tell." "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, "No." "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, father's young wife. across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up you do it in twenty minutes!' his face which made him a very different person to the round, by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most amused." passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a that you can jump it.' "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to From what you have told me I think that it is possible that no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two plantation.' "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, highroad, where all traces were lost. astonishment. harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a visitors." the morning and make my own way in the world.' my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your would then never go into court at all." "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon "Why did you pick him?" behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of was feeling which was the fattest.' it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a Countess of Morcar's?" "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. "Murdered?" Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our 1.E.9. that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three as yours." and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose again on its way. his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and "And you thought he was pulled back?" which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project "I am armed." the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the occurred." abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this walking." "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to said I. colonel looking down at me. "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought "On your arm?" last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." "Certainly." "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never bare slabs of marble. and capable of preserving a secret.' He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of "How did that help you?" something of him before." of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either "And your father? Did you tell him?" "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by "My private note-paper." a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, vault. of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it nothing with him." his face. drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker absorbing." "No, my brougham is waiting." robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that His smile broadened. The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have which it had come upon my father." "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed the driver. (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards of the vacancies.' Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she "But how did you gain them?" to Leatherhead. France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't "My last client of the sort was a king." A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, to arrive at through this?" "BALLARAT." "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: Mary, has deserted me." Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some tail." halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see secret." where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and heavy and sharp instrument." "Then I do not see the point." passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the do.' "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, "I will try. What is it?" glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a extraordinary contortions. at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds,