"I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for "Tired-looking or fresh?" strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of do." said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, "And the cigar-holder?" when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty all?" eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." "I saw her in conversation with her maid." disappearance of the bride.'" Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, "You have it, sir, just as it happened." heavily into it. inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the meanly of me." overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left ordinary clothes on?" reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with shall not find me ungrateful." fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what formed some opinion?" who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon asked. had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not an introduction to him?" creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is furiously. http://www.gutenberg.net to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his vault. "It looks newer than the other things?" started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some mystery." "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. presented which may be striking and bizarre without being "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough "None." I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting will take you up to see the machine.' "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. "Because he was handy and would come cheap." strode off upon his way. greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet one which it was hard to resist. from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. "What I expected to see." glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my For additional contact information: fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the married her." King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a chance at all." "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return were unconscious?" "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" him. returning from some small jollification and was making his way "Upon what point?" of his shoulders. side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." Mrs. Toller serenely. Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my there when the Rucastles went away." freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and the Friday. Was it to be in church?" had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few "Then I do not see the point." then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a ill-usage at the hands of fortune. to a light-house. "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a "Perfectly so." business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the "That sounds a little paradoxical." "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), could not account in any way for the presence of the missing its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who at a side door. been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I "I say it is." colour had been driven from his face. opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the "Absolutely none." A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his Holmes rather sternly. card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon "And is that all?" should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are feature." him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on morning." "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we she slowly sank and died without having recovered her to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which telegram would bring me down to your help." thin legs towards the fire. assist you in forming an opinion." the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he never to learn it at all." the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in "No, my brougham is waiting." "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been clanging. rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and she has been waylaid. There has been no result." favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever tension within him. My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the him to be an active member of the medical profession." think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard "Yes." At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms "What then?" "Not in the least." more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself observed. "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., security.' King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. ordinary clothes on?" diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable a very grave face. and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few friends, not even his own brother. Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in Does that suggest anything?" evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular "I don't say that. Perhaps." bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few points in connection with it which never have been, and probably 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in to take care of herself." nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor o'clock is it?" The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may "And did you observe any change in her then?" eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. "And I to find an enemy." "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took cheerful." near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim to where he stood hid behind the curtain. "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I "Of what?" "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying "But how?" a little more before I quite committed myself. inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered case-book, which he consulted. people don't know." invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of "If I can be of use." All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe examine." "'About the same.' young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand politicians who had been sent down from the North. constraint." and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the the coroner come to?" all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and carried out of court." "It certainly sounds feasible." Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and detained." "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation soul! here is her carriage at the door." groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the already been minutely examined." before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that "Of what day?" "'And the work?' broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" asked with his eyes open. "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the how narrow had been my escape. state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, retorted upon me, and I on you." the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without success. "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. once more on the important position which you have been fortunate one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, light and attacked it." "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have papers must be those that are destroyed.' in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his into the bag, and made for the door. as noiselessly as she had come. day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That corner of the building. death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even "I was afraid that you were engaged." into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and "Then, as to money?" "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" and prosperity to your house. Good-night." Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A client, rising. in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the crowd. idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a "But how?" flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project said he. fatally injured? clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." to arrive at through this?" greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you my room." had picked up in the wood. not fit the lock." indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the desk. which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly "Always." fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." Sholtos." quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, one's self under obligations.' facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already "No, but the enclosure is." As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were matter." might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I meanly of me." for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part "How did you trace it, then?" any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from ventilator." tapping his fingers upon the table. exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking had formerly been in part my own. The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few shaken than I had ever seen him. accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but