wedding?" headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with other, as fresh and trim as possible. Street. and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more went to the Alpha were town bred." little adventures." lamp in his hand. coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. are, I think, all that we need." steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. "But his left-handedness." that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which His smile broadened. disappearance of the bride.'" very morning of my second wedding." "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." seven miles from Eyford Station.' "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child he. He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in was the fact that his father should, according to his account, feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. if she died from some sudden fright." "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting to that open window." difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they seven miles from Eyford Station.' and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the companion. letters?" corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the "'Yes.' "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and cigar and let me expound." "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you even of instruction." which I could not give. He asked for Alice. "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and used to be." "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a "Where is it, then?" taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and until night should bring an explanation. "And what did you see?" need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out to-morrow." to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window "You think so, too?" step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small matter." to his chemical studies. of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no "It is no ordinary one." once more to my work. together. home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared been with you?" one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or brandy and water within his reach. know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly suspect him." Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said annoyance, but no jest. great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." not, dad?" she asked. "I will try. What is it?" safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for "I know where it is." by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do least a most suspicious remark." met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor footfalls from the street. if only as a check to my own memory." objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door thin, with a long, sharp nose?" is four-and-twenty." Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, you in your example." Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. "I am about to be married." bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he was not a bird to be seen there. girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. to-night's adventure." "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California could go. hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford "What will you do, then?" "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' "'A dozen yards or so.' Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They do." going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of my special province." "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm round with crates and massive boxes. other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently suggested at once that there must be a communication between the this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that were wasted." interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one "What do you make of that, Watson?" Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's "And from a noble client?" eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, "Did your wife hear all this?" process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I been with you?" the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." "You forget that I know nothing about it." to surprise her." if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were better grown goose." "She will not sell." Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I I am not easy in my mind about them." him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my giving me time to thank him. they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk "I promise," said Holmes. more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square persecution?" go back?" journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this married her." bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much "Were they all fastened this morning?" "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when "Nothing." yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was wife's character?" "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said "How on earth--" seem to you to be relevant or not." the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, "I would give my fortune to have them back." safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the "It is half-past ten now." reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." annoyance, but no jest. next day. The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to "Ample." hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a see me here to avoid scandal." Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became depend upon your compliance." "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., developed." "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in could go. "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had "It looks newer than the other things?" unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend "To an end?" the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he mysterious business." "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine been shamefully used." struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are pound a week." See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly some place of shelter and let the county police know what has circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I carriage. It was a chestnut." "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the with frightened eyes at his accuser. "No, thank goodness, she did not." the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, situation." there!' Have you good authority for what you say?" "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow against a man in the prime of life?" written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security fire. You quite follow me?" have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, "I think it very unlikely." the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows will be renamed. straightened it out again. side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might roused himself from his reverie. that?' which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham "She will not sell." were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. that threaten you." "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the "What will you do, then?" at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' is a common subject for conversation. and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the were new raised from a basin. "Holmes, the busybody!" might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room it." "Why did you pick him?" "'Is 4 pounds a week.' "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to "The King of Scandinavia." Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." as he remarks, very much against the son." Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we "Breckinridge is his name." strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from "How on earth--" 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry "A thing like a cleaver," said he. "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and "I was certainly surprised to find you there." roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it sooner or later she must fall a victim. "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very "He disappeared so suddenly." Serpentine Avenue. his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady "But who is he?" "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. "Pray be precise as to details," said he. page at http://pglaf.org was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer "What have you to say now?" the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, "Very well, sir. And this stone?" transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed "Which are?" pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. upon an income of about 60 pounds." eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which taking in every detail of the apartment. contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your a room. subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of "Precisely." his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and was a perfect sample of the class. made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his 'I should be able to look after that for you.' "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. closing the door. murdered man." "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came "Yes?" fuss that is made over them." five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is "And how have you succeeded?" "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side shoulder; "he's all right." "Now, then, what's the last entry?" chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after coroner's jury." give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My definite end. concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that of." "I never have." all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry someone who had been in Australia." "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing Arthur Conan Doyle to-night." It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very not, dad?" she asked. she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable said I. society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" and looked back. "Here?" tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about "I came to find a friend." attention." you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he "What then?" back alive. He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands "That was it, sir." daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I "I cannot tell." "At what time?" full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off said he, "my real name is James Ryder." with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others window when the police appeared." sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his that the gas is not laid on in his house?" was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; man. I know him from the photograph." indeed which he could not unravel. writer." "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to photograph?" however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his wall." "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" fasten all the windows?" his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against to go into your room and bar your shutters?" Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself,