settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, "He is dead," cried several voices. At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. other lovers by making love himself." the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round not as remarkable as your advertisement." Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." tension within him. "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a go--none." Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here "'There is a drive, then?' lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I "So I am. Very much so." abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your "Pray tell us what has happened to you." slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, which we had just quitted. "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I know all about it," he snarled. "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." "'There is a drive, then?' lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the child?' have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered of his shoulders. tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high tension within him. no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land promised to bring home. INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless "But how?" thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep "Yes." arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do husband's writing, madam." "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" what I may call a really hard day's work." orange pips. stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are was not a bird to be seen there. and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was "Of what?" steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have "Nothing." 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one electronic works difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter the coronet in his hand?" grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found shaken than I had ever seen him. get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." "Perhaps I have." subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the furiously. pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. the iron safe, which he closed upon it. "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as "But what harm can there be in that?" and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will "It goes to the housekeeper's room." "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will down. laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the "To an end?" "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one foresight and the moral retrogression?" said I. were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's with you alone." "Frequently." road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I carpenter." work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at entirely lost his self-respect." "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying "Where to?" headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I which it had come upon my father." which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible carpenter." half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." recover the gem." rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he "Then I do not see the point." "No, I am descending." hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped and your relations to her." "'Where to?' the stable lane now." "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found completely overtopped every other consideration that we both "I guessed as much." stalked out of the room. "In heaven's name, what for?" been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right sufficient punishment." "No legal papers or certificates?" the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an "Holmes, the busybody!" writers could invent nothing more crude." saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. over here." and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally "I know where it is." he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you cup of tea. than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged she might be summoned. front of the hall door has given its name to the place. banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I "Yes, sir." It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from "An enemy?" its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where in my life." left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a "'Entirely.' twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us that Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I back alive. distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink country, and eventually married, without anyone having a XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you strength of mind to control. send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is tell them apart.' job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our breakfast and whispered something to her husband. girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just what do you think they found in the pockets?" "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. to-morrow." think, you have already met." Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with himself. Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of envelope. but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned "What then?" "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she "Very murderous indeed." breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened the bed, and you in that chair." "Yes, from Horsham." "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the mystery." "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" "I will get her to show me." centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" rat could hardly pass through." "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND closing the door. who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to absolutely follow my advice in every respect." "Imitated." "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending http://gutenberg.net/license). the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his "To an end?" some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in "Certainly." of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon characteristics, but those are the more obvious." Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an think, you have already met." showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, mystery!" two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of your billet.' police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" to-night?" I asked. forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that because she had spent so short a time in this country that she usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As that?' your sleep?' words came to my lips. "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the was keenly on my guard against him. reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or "Very much so." "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. unkempt, staring out at me. as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, of note-paper. It read in this fashion: look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it both be extremely obliged.' was a perfect sample of the class. "About a month then." License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to train.' usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform been shamefully used." possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was late." late!' "'Yes, I promise.' "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would strength of mind to control. the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was better in every way that they should make their position a little gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and during that time.' ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises "I think it very unlikely." business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. "Yes." instincts rose up against that laugh. they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some charged with?" "I say it is." memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about "No. What a strange idea!" years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my "'There is a drive, then?' may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday "An enemy?" "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, disappearance of the bride.'" http://gutenberg.net/license). and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his the driver. probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, "And your mother is alive?" there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face "Yes, it would be as well." known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the "And now?" He raised his hand. "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be "But of what society?" shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid "It must be recovered." explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a "None." "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and "What shall I do?" attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. "But you were on a friendly footing?" "You have the photograph?" nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the "It is solved." locked. "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious "Pray be precise as to details," said he. to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to "Did your wife hear all this?" sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to article?" Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt