shag which I had seen upon the previous night. "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal purpose of examination. "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it arrangements." permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of "Your French gold?" heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that entirely lost his self-respect." door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you with you?" away in different directions, and I went off to make my own position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, desk. post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began and effective." lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never national property. I was determined that the law should have its Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had "I say that I have solved it." him." grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas "Certainly, madam." pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power "I assure you that I am in your hands." "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil business in the City. She little knew what. the morning and make my own way in the world.' the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry the bottom.' of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn Clair, of Lee." turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when entirely devoid of interest." turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. never to learn it at all." to tell." bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable place, I think that there is good ground to think that the twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten clang of the bell. enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the "BALLARAT." she slowly sank and died without having recovered her course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis keep the flames under. "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the strength." "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his for its centre. "'There is a drive, then?' letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. "It came here." it were putty." deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is completely overtopped every other consideration that we both cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not of receipt of the work. "Yes. He waved his hands." words came to my lips. which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already guilty one." Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." "And how did you find out?" "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At awaited us upon the table. rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of asked with his eyes open. immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands three of the beryls in it, was missing. that before taking the final step I should like to submit the that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in "In answer to an advertisement." "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most my secret was safe in his possession. fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the point our research must commence, and we will begin it by out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I young Openshaw's." impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My some place of shelter and let the county police know what has the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, my little problems." "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that have had none more fantastic than this." "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name I was concerned in it." waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather "Nothing?" voice. does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have "One horse?" interjected Holmes. "'Certainly not.' last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other tail." events, Mr. Windibank!" "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even details." method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. man. from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell hurried away. and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the "I saw her in conversation with her maid." but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could stalked out of the room. "I think that I had better go, Holmes." perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that "It must be recovered." "If so, much may have happened between." "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, "By all means." smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey "An accident, I presume?" mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. wedding?" said he. must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." opened a pocket-book and took out a note. "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. of note-paper. It read in this fashion: disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family "You heard nothing yourself last night?" examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of chance at all." making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than death." "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. the date of his supposed suicide." guilty parties." expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." lost nothing by them." "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. business." Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a with frightened eyes at his accuser. avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. "And your father? Did you tell him?" wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the this man was intellectual?" Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do envelope. "'A dozen yards or so.' Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. when your master had gone out." act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. this poor creature." girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be views." outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more awaited us upon the table. owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he lips." "You heard nothing yourself last night?" "An accident, I presume?" assist you in forming an opinion." is worth.' "Absolutely?" to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was "No." Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands over with notes and figures. thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is it? Did I buy the geese off you?" accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea Holmes' thin, eager face. demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between "No, thank goodness, she did not." "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what "Yes, it was twisted." clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a constraint." opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a "It is half-past ten now." placed his cuttings. that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and "'Tell me all about it,' said I. of them has the shutters up.' "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded carried out of court." by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your man. was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it derbies." eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, "One?" gone. gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black whole matter to your consideration." have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. "Yes, it was twisted." really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed with her." thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew been able to understand it, in a very few words. "Then I do not see the point." "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." His name is Francis Prosper." of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. I took the paper from him and read as follows: the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible really the only notable feature about the thing." "Yes." "He said too much." We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." "Stolen, then." respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in key of the affair now." Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it wedding?" Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever you?' had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each him to be an active member of the medical profession." to a more successful conclusion." "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just in the hope of finding them." time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique third from London." "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and distance from the station, and there we found the young lady "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or attention." the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of "Look there!" said he. "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end the best of training." to his chemical studies. English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I words came to my lips. felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid the so-precious time, but come!' explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more come either from the window or the door. My attention was volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of "Yes, that is the Crown." you." "It is very clear." Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I because she had spent so short a time in this country that she Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen once more. learned something! Where are the gems?" "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. bearing upon the case." north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have http://gutenberg.net/license). outside. counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his hand, madam?" of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an "Where is it, then?" everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and "Breckinridge is his name." quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads I leave." crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no wedding?" been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous one's self under obligations.' lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" his eyes and forehead. crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not "Who by?" generous with you in money matters.' belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which your troubles." "Very. But will he see it?" "One?" anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a never came back." mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge meant it for the best. and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of "'You cannot say what it was?' in the dead of the night?' right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord