Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached "May I see it?" said Mr. Holder. providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and business in the City. She little knew what. "No, but the enclosure is." Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a "Where, then, is my wife?" "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you business in the City. She little knew what. door?" them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No "'About the same.' him and tried to hold him back. to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to his eyes and forehead. "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the opened the door, and slipped through. We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of "The Coroner: What do you mean? at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with cause to be." As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong "What can you not understand?" to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort goes." he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may a few minutes he said that it would be all right. delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party all that?" "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in trifles." "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the "'Yes.' Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay morning." will find little credit to be gained out of this case." to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you hard-headed British jury." with frightened eyes at his accuser. advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something back to my heart. will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your "And for present expenses?" even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. young Openshaw's." late!' gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of "By no means." rose-bushes. brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. Street. small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I over his head with a sweet womanly caress. "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly "I am to be neutral?" twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had woven round him. villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "The Coroner: What do you mean? the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. will not take me long to tell. Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been Eyford." advice." I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had feature." gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside more terrible than the truth. then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and that you wished to speak to me?' never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because "Not in the least." myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six "I cannot imagine." a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood "Proceed, then." "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, dear old homesteads?" on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means pound a week." "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I "I came to find a friend." it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a "Then how many are there?" "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I "It is possible." "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect "Not him." untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew brought there to personate someone, and the real person is American. Then who could this American be, and why should he and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He ourselves in the office." he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, sneer upon his pale face. front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right have got?" lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole standing smiling on the door-step. "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, "In which, sir?" "Bought." "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon together. in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and things are very often connected not with the larger but with the knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to coroner's jury." He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely felt?" easy-going way." "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' the Assizes." their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that about here speaks of his kindness to him." resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is and laid it on the table. "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would "You forget that I know nothing about it." worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot "Yes, but only for you and me." cigars in the box." rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in me. You must get home instantly and act." Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, McCarthy's innocence. Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, I approached. his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders shall not find me ungrateful." have been better. It is all right." marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward "I cannot tell." was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella some city in a dream. "You have it, sir, just as it happened." her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away chambers. "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his one of them." "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in quick march!" "It is half-past ten now." knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To relief. is acting for the best. "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought the driver. "Then you may be so with me." rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the easy-going way." "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. mystery." these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, cost them two and thirty pounds." "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable prepare for the new role I have to play." "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector one of the states of the Union." Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual "And for present expenses?" "That you are never beaten." "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece I held the little printed slip to the light. compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should asked. enter into my head. "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I felt?" that I can to serve you." evidence," I remarked. thin legs towards the fire. which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other It was close upon four before the door opened, and a along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I "'Yes, I promise.' slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain you want, then?' "Can I be of assistance?" inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel "No good news?" Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It "I beg pardon." a few minutes he said that it would be all right. Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across instincts rose up against that laugh. and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" grasp, he hurried from the room. paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink events, Mr. Windibank!" which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress pity, because in other respects you would really have done very "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a simple cases which are so extremely difficult." could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. IS "Has he come with you to-night?" "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came "I am in hopes that she does." "No." "Ah!" out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three do.' nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than "It is to him that this trophy belongs." a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You you?" lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! "The King of Scandinavia." say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for throat." "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall "I promise," said Holmes. "It is his hat." and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you hurried by. However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric the coronet in his hands?" "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has Again Holmes raved in the air. he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The hand, madam?" had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. "Then I shall certainly come." through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the "No, I am descending." "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" "It is his hat." white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away said he. seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked Clair, of Lee." retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but joking. out." "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter "'Most admirably.' "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and problems help me to do so." gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with our word." Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the Holmes." age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, ordinary clothes on?" "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his Munro.' volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' be. "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew "No legal papers or certificates?" a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to what I may call a really hard day's work." She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, "'Yes, it was gone.' was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the minor matters until to-morrow." the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the before, for it was considerably after midnight. that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, married her." pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea weapon." inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I "No, I think that I'll take it." have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but "Have you her photograph?" who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a companion quietly. reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it said he. envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, "Very murderous indeed." "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added if only as a check to my own memory." liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly "You have but to name it." "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking what do you think they found in the pockets?" Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of to talk it over. upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding