from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face "Certainly." which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then memory. English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his companion. endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, prisoner's face. the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no letters?" me. You must get home instantly and act." the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips with her." Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into indeed happy." diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, troubles have been weighing upon his mind. objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that locked. all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." and shall probably return to London by the evening train." power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, into her hand at the door and which lured her within their you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, "I was mad--insane." to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't little trying to do so much typewriting?" morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two the loss of it. use an arc-and-compass breastpin." one's self under obligations.' they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in it." "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the "The Cedars?" The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what "'Quite sure, dad.' "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" his fortune, and I went back to pa. "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." the ceiling. but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which "Yes, I have one waiting." hand, madam?" "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two "So I am. Very much so." do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the his grey eyes. happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. "Yes, he did." however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found hereditary King of Bohemia." son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us points to suicide?" from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." foresight and the moral retrogression?" whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There "I cannot say that I have." saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears DISSOLVED. it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate Does that suggest anything?" few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not not use it unless it is absolutely needed." "In which, sir?" With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. them?" order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to John Swain, of St. Augustine. children over to America with him, so that I found myself without his face which made him a very different person to the round, gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, "I cannot imagine." "Look there!" said he. this as likely?" ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New John Swain, of St. Augustine. "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a been with you?" front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden suggested at once that there must be a communication between the we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might absolutely follow my advice in every respect." from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or recover the gem." I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled "'Where to?' snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the rose-bushes. and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple "This photograph!" handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have infinite languor in his face. developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and see a sister of mine apply for." "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an the date of his supposed suicide." "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the very old mansion. have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. "And is that all?" I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it our word." "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I how narrow had been my escape. defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than "Because he was handy and would come cheap." grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned to-morrow." discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up easy-going way." in your London, you will know that the office of the company is British peeress.'" Henry Baker is a member." and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be went to the Alpha were town bred." has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. outside." possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose tell him that I know him to be innocent." brandy and water within his reach. "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his "Nothing." "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' said he, "my real name is James Ryder." there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom to-night?" I asked. should be taken.' Munro.' outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind never will be, entirely cleared up. thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, "Really! You surprise me." "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes the very letters. But what is this written above them?' of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I "You heard nothing yourself last night?" disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out late." every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to "'Certainly not.' before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection with frightened eyes at his accuser. souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them if only as a check to my own memory." "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was not within a twentieth part of the market price." garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a "She will not sell." were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. along the entire front of the house, with three long windows "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could relation between them, and what the object of his repeated dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been to arrive at through this?" "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing assist you in forming an opinion." cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they have got?" dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any some mystery and the punishment of some crime." He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my comes from the middle window." Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's "What do you mean?" as he folded up the epistle. works. See paragraph 1.E below. He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret been able to understand it, in a very few words. of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking "You have compromised yourself seriously." "And what did you see?" "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be more solid." indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon certainly not very gracious." "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." brandy and water within his reach. them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the considering the formidable letters which were received by himself guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing that you saw all that I did." human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." "'Where could I find him?' they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you formed some opinion?" Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon here." the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless shag which I had seen upon the previous night. about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of in the dead of the night?' doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for "He is still with you, I presume?" soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since tension within him. "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might "Married! When?" I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, "Yes." with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light good-night and bustled off upon her way. fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to "And why?" But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not photograph?" the coronet in his hands?" exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that must compliment you." again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that the running down." of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my "Yes." back alive. "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there "It goes to the housekeeper's room." law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced went to the Alpha were town bred." In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, and looked back. "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, memory. "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this "It surprised me." saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." the matter?" "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" "No?" data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to of your young ladies.' eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to "Yes." "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon breakfast." "This concluded the examination of the witness." standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, there in twenty minutes." I held the little printed slip to the light. down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I were wasted." said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence charge against him will break down." "Was the window open?" hardly wander." glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of and the church but not where the lady lived." think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some carpenter." lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of "No sign of it?" dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the "That is it on the dressing-table." overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I him, that man would not have given me such complete information the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and Henry Baker is a member." tightly behind him. better in every way that they should make their position a little glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as "By all means." narrative." particular state visit http://pglaf.org "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted place, I think that there is good ground to think that the "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age helping a boy to put up the shutters. many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, He broke the seal and glanced over the contents.