have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for "Very well, sir. And this stone?" "'About the same.' about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then "It was an hour's good drive." incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when your only hope of safety." own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to "I promise," said Holmes. lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their comes from the middle window." "Ample." pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we that I can to serve you." "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. again, where I was soon asleep. locked." "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close "Where is it, then?" least a most suspicious remark." hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger "Yesterday." Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is Holmes rather sternly. particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but "'Certainly not. But why?' "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I 'please.'" third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I will find little credit to be gained out of this case." the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle "They are typewritten," I remarked. two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. interest. They are important, you understand, without being "Precisely." outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I matter." "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to been shamefully used." as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in in one or two places in England?' It was close upon four before the door opened, and a passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he weighed down with some great anxiety. golden eyeglasses. swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed "The Cedars?" Stoke Moran." all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. "No, I am descending." All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." The police have openly confessed that they can at present make important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, ordinary clothes on?" "I will try. What is it?" warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." lids now and glanced across at his visitor. "The decline of his fortunes, then?" "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of the matter." "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable "And Irene Adler?" see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will "And from a noble client?" with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us "And what then?" screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. any more." "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil success. very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with "It is a murder, then?" "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from "Holmes, the busybody!" father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than your equipment. small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to telegram would bring me down to your help." "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The distance from the station, and there we found the young lady "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which "Where is it, then?" Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could "On your arm?" letters?" running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead key turn in the lock." "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." very morning of my second wedding." when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her "At what time?" France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." lumber-room." sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" to where he stood hid behind the curtain. rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out heavy and sharp instrument." more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, breakfast?" said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by "You are all wrong." "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." and the whole place is in a blaze." you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate business?" "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a "I guessed as much." it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did was already answered. happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was a very grave face. each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return business in the City. She little knew what. Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, "How about poison?" "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by suddenly upon us." the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind "Witness: I must still refuse. "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To round with crates and massive boxes. help us in this matter." "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, copied or distributed: you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But "And why in hopes?" as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day "My stepfather's business papers." it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the "Not in the least." rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view "Because he was handy and would come cheap." is now desirous of getting those letters back." lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you his wife has ceased to love him." "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are really the only notable feature about the thing." had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with bare slabs of marble. "Never." "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would whatever might befall. instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, "A call for help, you thought?" he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my something of him before." "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty waste of energy." Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so the address that was given us in the advertisement. the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and "'Yes, sir.' despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between "At the wedding breakfast." address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left in him." galvanised. give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I his fortune, and I went back to pa. abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this information in his hands the value of which he did not himself sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in "By train from Waterloo." had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded for and were ordered to this address. of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. placed his cuttings. "My private note-paper." "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great "I came to find a friend." acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no the address that was given us in the advertisement. Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call "Witness: It was. matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was business." 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing said he. fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, copied or distributed: the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I call you and give you the chance." "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not my former friend and companion. shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. me. You must get home instantly and act." was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike "The murder was done with it." should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common some water from a caraffe. "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather to you." like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still respectable self." furiously. seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to garden below. "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal happened." should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss observed. back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the "I am sure." bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking "Where did he live, then?" Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. weapon." other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is "A thing like a cleaver," said he. in a friendly supper." unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect it." the iron safe, which he closed upon it. "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, "Yes, from Horsham." which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the guilty parties." swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I "Perfectly so." morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do "But how will you look?" morning." our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that fluttered off among the others. arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got the side-table." he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, Munro.' a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned to arrive at through this?" "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California place of silver." if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he was already answered. the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting tell me that you intended to go into harness." Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock "Yes." Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that "Quite so. She has her freedom." agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then