"And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new persecution?" since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I than to us. which are rolled in Rotterdam." quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and them, and came down just as you departed. half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in was used.' plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain "It is solved." may never be exposed to such a temptation." But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker official police." shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could should be taken.' "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that of them has the shutters up.' dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his get her out of the way." business." Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to to miss it." you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most "This photograph!" once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if "On the contrary, this is the right side." "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass "Indeed! Whose, then?" affection." have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he upon the white wrist. long narrative. wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little Count Von Kramm." "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped know what is wrong with it.' premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' "My photograph." he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever for the market.' and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his "On Monday." great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get go back?" or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall "That you are never beaten." together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella come either from the window or the door. My attention was there when the Rucastles went away." morning." exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if go--none." particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their "Not particularly." that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. hardly wander." and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread "'Yes, it was gone.' ceremony." "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in "My private note-paper." hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless "The King of Scandinavia." opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go will find little credit to be gained out of this case." as the one I chose?' to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to and prosperity to your house. Good-night." James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington "I would pay ten." Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" room?" on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of third from London." rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the about here speaks of his kindness to him." beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a "It was an hour's good drive." Sutherland. plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling fattened it expressly for you.' Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend "Oh, fresh and glossy." looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to business." Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." had a long day." however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer light and attacked it." back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I woven round him. "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort unprofitable." fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough problems help me to do so." do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, "Then, how do you know?" the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his ago." air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It "I assure you that I am in your hands." residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had "No." to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried disappearance of the bride.'" to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may to have been novel and of interest." upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to written, and locked the door of the office after me. "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for "'There is a drive, then?' certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport is four-and-twenty." quick march!" over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to correct than the official force." something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine "Yes, the wine-cellar." name is different." "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied "You have compromised yourself seriously." "I cannot as yet see any connection." Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never dramatic, in fact." fishes. of the one which your family is now devouring." If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the not personally threatened." he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of brandy and water within his reach. work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. and your relations to her." will be renamed. Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece "And you don't know his address?" were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, fish-monger and a tide-waiter." in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." point in the dark hollow of his hand. "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper him and tried to hold him back. "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. as yours." heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about remarked. could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by "Yes." corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I meanly of me." have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, hereditary King of Bohemia." over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than of fine shops and stately business premises that they really spare." "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still were new raised from a basin. "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness during which he might have communicated with his friend the in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a morning." hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an "One of his hands." "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us "But how will you look?" to Leatherhead. of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered crowd. followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that of them has the shutters up.' that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided matter over." "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the points to suicide?" address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw more solid." His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are "And did you observe any change in her then?" before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of chambers. considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. interested in these little problems, and since you are good "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands "'What do you call purely nominal?' tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." that and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious already referred to. daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his "Yes, that is the Crown." "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. few hundred pounds.' reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she some water from a caraffe. the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO "Quite so." me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, "And what did you see?" "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a trying to your nerves." "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." in your London, you will know that the office of the company is "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the "So I am. Very much so." thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep dear old homesteads?" "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, relation between them, and what the object of his repeated bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have "'What are you doing there?' he asked. the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see sparkled upon his finger. morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he "Bought." "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the call the police, let the police find what they can.' "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still union?" and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable from the brougham. "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, the child." should be taken.' accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to as noiselessly as she had come. like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. "Very murderous indeed." smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, it right.' shadow pass over his face as I spoke. pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each "You are certainly joking, Holmes." other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest of fine shops and stately business premises that they really "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I name is different." as he folded up the epistle. gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after "My dear Holmes!" naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own desk. exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her