face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we it." her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he "Ten will be early enough." understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so "This photograph!" but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and "My dear Holmes!" Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in nothing with him." the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a "Of Friday, June 19th." simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed asked with his eyes open. politicians who had been sent down from the North. "A greater distance to travel." upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from her also." Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a think that any burglar could have done. little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in and it need not interfere very much with one's other disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty "I see many objections to any such theory." long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried way: time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I "And your mother is alive?" "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her morning." her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice said he. after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you "And I to find an enemy." "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I been lifted and conveyed somewhere." having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of in this note: and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with one else, I think." "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." "I am armed." there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say ago." imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would Holmes rather sternly. just called myself is not exactly my own." poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I come either from the window or the door. My attention was from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a silent! Oh, he will be silent!' woman." we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second "My opinion is in no way altered." we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the "It is possible." "How can you tell that?" "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his better grown goose." again on its way. The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has and your relations to her." the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the status with the IRS. "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" "And what did you learn from him?" Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of "And what did you see?" "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." "Certainly." "Yes, sir." deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man particular state visit http://pglaf.org the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in a few minutes he said that it would be all right. photograph?" back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call this Miss Turner." the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative your Highness to the police-station?" the inquest, and which are worth considering." "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity burst into a hearty fit of laughter. to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's annoyance, but no jest. this Miss Turner." "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes deduce something from that?" Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a wedding?" You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards could not have written that. It is the German who is so was it brought him the coronet? believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," "No, but the enclosure is." us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your "Just look it up, then." memory. innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of "That is it on the dressing-table." shoulder. brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: "In San Francisco, a year ago." this man was intellectual?" Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of the dangers which encompass me." question. commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and "It is possible." the Friday. Was it to be in church?" to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and persecution?" place no limit on the sum I may draw." error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram you found me to-night--and running through the front room she was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, that you saw all that I did." ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and annoyance, but no jest. the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. putting in the horse. previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were read over the extraordinary announcement. before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a detained." received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It "Yes." "No, my brougham is waiting." believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of breakfast." late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so the one as in the other." "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss "'And the work?' McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow think, you have already met." "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his envelope. He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he "Frequently." "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." my former friend and companion. There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! in the hope of finding them." - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it anything to do with the matter?" "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. the inquest, and which are worth considering." opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing room had already been engaged for us. "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these room had already been engaged for us. wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the read it out to me." together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at "What have you done?" asked Holmes. something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for "If so, much may have happened between." after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will "It is very kind of you." of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's light and attacked it." away in different directions, and I went off to make my own "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who papers diligently of late, have you not?" police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up "And how did he make his money?" departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room way in." now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the get the tickets." the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of him, that man would not have given me such complete information helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had "Very. But will he see it?" Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of and your relations to her." were new raised from a basin. Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, Henry Baker is a member." The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It woven round him. "I would give my fortune to have them back." wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him "My stepfather's business papers." back alive. the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite people don't know." stalked out of the room. "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might forehead. "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such was feeling which was the fattest.' feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already think that he is innocent?" "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to "Not him." humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself little trying to do so much typewriting?" "The Coroner: What do you mean? Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards down in his armchair and closing his eyes. not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You "Stolen, then." "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and "Your sister is dead, then?" not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of this poor creature." the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, strength." And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and Mrs. Toller serenely. least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very coroner's jury." "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in was a lad." in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working both be extremely obliged.' scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King interests were the same as his." newspaper selections." a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I "Yesterday." "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which the general public were present, then?" "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" "'Very good.' grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done questionable one." "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's "Then he might have called to you?" everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the upon a handsome competence. which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the investigation." "10th. John Swain cleared. "The murder was done with it." "Were they all fastened this morning?" three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock it." "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. forecastle of an emigrant ship. implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough of the efforts of the United States government and of the better form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and strength." no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place were wasted." "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing "VIOLET HUNTER." glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all redistribution. The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I British peeress.'" the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, she used." "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At "If so, much may have happened between." some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on cigar and let me expound." waste of energy." foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to