sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, populous neighbourhood." with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to "How on earth--" gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again towards the blaze. pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and "I have a cab outside." paper in the air. shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and "It must be recovered." believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that and the colonel ushered me in. Mary, has deserted me." out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the tell them apart.' a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on "My dear Holmes!" "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum hour." St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. photograph a cabinet?" Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" there when the Rucastles went away." I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation helping a boy to put up the shutters. "And I." It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the later, upon the night of May 2nd." I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see one of the states of the Union." flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. call you and give you the chance." "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to were new raised from a basin. that?' furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party of the way of danger. "It was a confession," I ejaculated. and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. "And why?" think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside and shall probably return to London by the evening train." "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened "Pray do so." with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that "But you were on a friendly footing?" "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about "I am armed." II. "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who be sorry for having acted so harshly." yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had "Yes." of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." happened." if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do tightly behind him. about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, four million human beings all jostling each other within the brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, together. fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine o'clock is it?" although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods "Nothing?" is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of do." Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But bearing upon the case." which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the and the colonel ushered me in. the very letters. But what is this written above them?' "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of think you a quite exceptional woman." better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the less than 26s. 4d. "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged "Pray do so." the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" indiscretion." events than those which have happened in my own family." Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of direction." should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he not come at once?" fluttered off among the others. "To an end?" - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united whatever might befall. Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." the night.' the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my presented more singular features than that which was associated disappearance of the bride.'" heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who the coroner come to?" you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE father's young wife. Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated to-night?' Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands your sleep?' a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the will he say when he returns?" exactly what you advise." stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent were new raised from a basin. name is different." station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it "Then I shall certainly come." corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt reach." why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." "You have the photograph?" "Nor running a chance of arrest?" delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as union?" All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, at home. door?" data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had within hail.' forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from "Not him." forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for murdered man." "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and him nearly every evening." "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell "I am armed." it were putty." "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. voice, changing her seat as requested. "It is to him that this trophy belongs." Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business "Yes, I have one waiting." reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were "Come in!" said Holmes. he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was there when the Rucastles went away." professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and "The vanishing of the lady." "Yes, but only for you and me." "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, "Were they all fastened this morning?" three of the beryls in it, was missing. vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to to-night's adventure." his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly "My opinion is in no way altered." "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined "Why serious?" and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he "'What would be the hours?' I asked. fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own room had already been engaged for us. few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to rat could hardly pass through." my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and bears upon the case?" about. "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City recover the gem." of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as been anything against him. He had for years been known as a "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy little trying to do so much typewriting?" The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a was once confined in the cab my mission was practically upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. know what is wrong with it.' you." flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought examine." deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the key turn in the lock." charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of everything which you would wish to know." "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It humiliation." of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in drawing your inferences." Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which me where it went to?" and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in and glanced through. tell me that you intended to go into harness." behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you "Will you bet, then?" active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. "What!" he roared. it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt do." the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but a suggestive one." as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I "'And the work?' Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute points to suicide?" flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A maiden herself was most instructive." it? Did I buy the geese off you?" "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the in darkness. seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a "I do." "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold you found me to-night--and running through the front room she and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the forecastle of an emigrant ship. "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a one else, I think." have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his was the fact that his father should, according to his account, "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he unprofitable." this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would "Never." even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of it." that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the from one who lives in the bosom of his family.'