"I will do it." half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed "The vanishing of the lady." "No." eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to "9th. McCauley cleared. I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, hurried away. "But you were on a friendly footing?" at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was your only hope of safety." stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, woven round him. something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room desk. chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he kindly on the shoulder. "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been "No good news?" occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the I am not easy in my mind about them." slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which other means.' appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she had died away into the silence from which it rose. of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am a very grave face. to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this me." you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from himself to tell his story. "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and and a shock of very red hair. like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the bell. Holmes whistled. accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." "No legal papers or certificates?" It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' "Where is it, then?" and no precautions can guard against." Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all people in all walks of life. travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with "ARAT," I read. "He is still with you, I presume?" twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether "In what way?" asked Holmes. "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not good for you to do.' When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to the little opening for the ventilator is." Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to "Yes, sir." the driver. face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, emerged. like gravel from a pit.' during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A "By no means." the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried is acting for the best. Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, to tell." a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we notes," he said. dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm "My private note-paper." probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the said he at last. his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, points in connection with it which never have been, and probably nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached This is what he says: "You heard nothing yourself last night?" away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the chill to my heart. brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of "And why in hopes?" suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much see me here to avoid scandal." telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. "Very murderous indeed." outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I "Always." man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would himself in a perplexing position. mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project "And I to find an enemy." shoulder; "he's all right." which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it said I. foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from "What I expected to see." murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his recall any case within my experience which looked at the first "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, started for the Temple to see my husband. "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All "Two days later this same performance was gone through under over part of the map. "What do you read?" white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he to Leatherhead. on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about "And you can do nothing until then?" pound a week." "Where, then?" seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, business." "Absolutely none." Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the Serpentine Avenue. just ask you whether you had heard it.' "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' to tell." people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young "Yes, it was twisted." they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her "It certainly sounds feasible." world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's ready to-morrow?' glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young "And how have you succeeded?" recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in noble correspondent could be. "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated "Your sister is dead, then?" collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and instituted." habit of advancing money.' "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note back into the street. "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he envelope. as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is touch that coronet?' the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. hereditary King of Bohemia." night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. residence of the great financier. King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could said Mr. Holder. Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to down from London to inquire more deeply into it." roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been "Yes, sir." "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of in my life." you for a few hours?" bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure "You have compromised yourself seriously." drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it tail." o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was "This photograph!" He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we vault. enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away "Then I am your man." more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to "Very. But will he see it?" "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late "By no means." never came back." both be extremely obliged.' pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot flock.' world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm place no limit on the sum I may draw." belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain "'In my own bureau.' ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something said I. of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself way in everything. lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the him to be an active member of the medical profession." fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." before, for it was considerably after midnight. often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what front of the hall door has given its name to the place. Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in room had already been engaged for us. considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, "My photograph." with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary taking in every detail of the apartment. and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was towards the blaze. the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? "But I have heard all that you have heard." to miss it." jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I there." answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more "'And what salary do you ask?' perplexity from it to my illustrious client. "I will get her to show me." He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." depend upon your compliance." was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout "Holmes, the busybody!" open." "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? "And Irene Adler?" through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the "How are you getting on?" "How many? I don't know." There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you make me his representative both with the servants and with the outside. "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm "I answered that I had not. "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a all?" out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well "Yes." voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. "The vanishing of the lady." inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a and I shall be with you presently." when your master had gone out." "And how have you succeeded?" assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in window when the police appeared." "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat telegram would bring me down to your help." order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the "There is the writing." him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable him nearly every evening." "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." events than those which have happened in my own family." equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause off." reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. forebodings. Project Gutenberg-tm works. his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." the address that was given us in the advertisement. "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover villagers almost as much as their master. "No." "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, one's self under obligations.' for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home papers diligently of late, have you not?" dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see "You have but to name it." interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when discontent upon his features. English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried "No, I had a dozen." Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the morning." stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow him!" style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran Project Gutenberg-tm works. dear old homesteads?" its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him young Openshaw's." "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. companion quietly. remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put been deceived." "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while despair." My friend smiled. "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had "So I am. Very much so." convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his "And for present expenses?" for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the as the one I chose?' from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has gigantic client. office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All light and attacked it." is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for Holmes. "But she will refuse." you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four