pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up "Murdered?" charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you Holmes. guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood III. inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." "Yes. He waved his hands." It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to III. conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every society." with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of "Do you go out much in society?" "Have you her photograph?" "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are business came to an end." friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" it." loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since once more on the important position which you have been fortunate Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to important." from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that derbies." was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." "'What then?' I asked. been shamefully used." "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before "You saw the ventilator, too?" some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual fear." a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the "What then?" be sorry for having acted so harshly." from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was point our research must commence, and we will begin it by "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on "Pray continue your narrative." and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this closing the door. was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our your Highness to the police-station?" helping a boy to put up the shutters. such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a business." Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of be sorry for having acted so harshly." "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy "No." "We have tried and failed." "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. "You will not go there first?" I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a whereabouts. base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the said he. "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the lost nothing by them." call it cruel." there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy companion quietly. "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but wedding?" "None." by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from woven round him. "Then I shall certainly come." the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the together. dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend which it had come upon my father." lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring Cross for the Continent." bed dies. Does not that strike you?" cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient confronted him. a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address have one." you, my dear young lady?' address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the "Because he was handy and would come cheap." herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might had this final quarrel? be. have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended retorted upon me, and I on you." perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall "He is still with you, I presume?" of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." be. and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, "One of his hands." "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" bears upon the case?" "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for has little to do with my story." of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' "Two days later this same performance was gone through under known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his "And sit in the dark?" was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any nights." daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have "But the mystery?" Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about chair. "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for the inquest, and which are worth considering." "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is "I warn you that they are very incomplete." never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no chance." the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the "I am sure." revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first what these perils are?" "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not Pool. the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I "She will not sell." useful material for showing traces. The double line a little pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of have had none more fantastic than this." William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped "I was certainly surprised to find you there." drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about "'What do you call purely nominal?' the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my "It missed him, then?" Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." You want to know what became of those geese?" interest. They are important, you understand, without being coroner's jury." About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate in darkness. some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ subject to the trademark license, especially commercial "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a have established a very serious case against the son of the "Never to return." "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we tail." have not had my rubber." disappearance of the bride.'" "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought at my remark. "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the you." yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a "Won't it ring?" fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed help us in this matter." on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. the matter?" Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some dear old homesteads?" "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man "Pray let us have it, for all that." "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what soul! here is her carriage at the door." can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, it. the running down." doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows future lives." pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a promised to bring home. see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. most interesting one." which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so room. some water from a caraffe. endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year experiences." which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had "My private note-paper." "'I am sure that I do not know.' would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of "The King of Scandinavia." a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See did not hear it also.' prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite answer." dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in my former friend and companion. "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary emerged. and laid it on the table. been with you?" here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that of the efforts of the United States government and of the better "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father shaken than I had ever seen him. gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A was not a bird to be seen there. for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a had died away into the silence from which it rose. two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by best detective that ever lived. go from here to the Strand." "And what did you learn from him?" "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying she to prove their authenticity?" seen the man in the road." down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not "She will not sell." shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with served to weaken the effect. was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE "Pray continue your narrative." "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to burst out into a roar of laughter. ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which pictures, libraries, or plate. such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal from you?" into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. good-night and bustled off upon her way. always that they were such commands as a lady might with he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get "Is he quiet?" to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent mystery may be cleared along those lines." and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His gone. great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed good for you to do.' affection." from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house his knees, staring into the fire. appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, father's place of business?" cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be details." "ARAT," I read. pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich "Yes." "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in on re-entering her father's house?" necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the outsides of the windows. difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were she used." quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael "What, then?" all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, face and glided from the room. wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction introspective fashion. didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. breakfast." red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this Munro.' my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, friend's singular character. thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange "None." savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" time." before, for it was considerably after midnight. the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling "What steps will you take?" I asked. shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms very morning of my second wedding." bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution it." him nearly every evening." that, and I came down." other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by you in yours." village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon would apply.' Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a noise which awoke you from your sleep?" him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it "The vanishing of the lady." their singular warning or token before them when starting upon "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, "It must be recovered." "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three