afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the "I have a cab outside." key turn in the lock." "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client "What!" he roared. of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, and files of the old papers, following the future career of every "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately towards the blaze. promised to bring home. He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase "Will you bet, then?" handed it to him. suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, things are very often connected not with the larger but with the back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug laugh and put his lips to my ear. fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the point in the dark hollow of his hand. "How can you tell that?" pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for absorbing." to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very "Very much so." "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the in his hands." breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at "But what will you do?" for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall "'Is purely nominal.' But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, if I call to-morrow?" "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner "And you don't know his address?" "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. "But how did you gain them?" you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as distance from the station, and there we found the young lady intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" "You are hungry," I remarked. The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and "No, but the enclosure is." the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to call you and give you the chance." and that he would see to anything that turned up. "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes "One of the highest in England." "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. over here." was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend think you a quite exceptional woman." Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, "I warn you that they are very incomplete." a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey "Eh? What was that?" "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this me." "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of even of instruction." lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad joking. any more." "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, quite distinctive." "Thank you. And your address?" I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir "By train from Waterloo." "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, the Friday. Was it to be in church?" my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the fact, we may call it conclusive." "Absolutely?" evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you Eyford." have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his some terrible trap for her." reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits sit on the left-hand side of the driver." voice, changing her seat as requested. and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into "And the cigar-holder?" "Pray do so." "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the "Precisely." "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the clanging. again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her "What then?" "'As governess?' despair." confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked appeal." two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make "You have compromised yourself seriously." "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on politicians who had been sent down from the North. adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." only touch the interest." serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since crime." it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must The note was undated, and without either signature or address. that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. direction." there is a decided draught." part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black everything which you would wish to know." to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly few hundred pounds.' however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker official police." ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed written. were unconscious?" she has been waylaid. There has been no result." state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am "My opinion is in no way altered." "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you which was all perfectly true. "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his all that?" "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't everything which you would wish to know." "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the answer." Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where is a common subject for conversation. typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business the roots. ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last "The Coroner: What do you mean? found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. himself. "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of charge against him will break down." this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had said I. even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would forehead. sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some money should be paid at once.' continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do morning." "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." it." lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return side. only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view lumber-room." "Yesterday." then?" 11:15.' has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy go from here to the Strand." hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which weary and pale-looking. nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, and files of the old papers, following the future career of every "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little "'Certainly,' I answered. Dr. Gregory B. Newby wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. "What office?" "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in forecastle of an emigrant ship. in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each and files of the old papers, following the future career of every side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very carriage. It was a chestnut." Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my test if we have an answer to our advertisement." was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in were new raised from a basin. entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case neither fascinating nor artistic." "But of what society?" He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" cigars in the box." call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of "No." "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must frequently gained my first real insight into the character of "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. again." like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the which I could not give. He asked for Alice. tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the "Has he come with you to-night?" leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence room. looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows you found me to-night--and running through the front room she dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the "But his left-handedness." Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of invisible to me," I remarked. "I should wish to." obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing entirely lost his self-respect." the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it "Where to?" "'There is a drive, then?' to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right "I think that I had better go, Holmes." furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I "What have you to say now?" editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." was a perfect sample of the class. reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your which I could not give. He asked for Alice. "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and kindly on the shoulder. provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. horse could go." moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not house for five minutes.' but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he which I could not give. He asked for Alice. "Do you receive much company?" he asked. "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of "Yes, the wine-cellar." more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband the matter." it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in Mrs. Toller serenely. wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address suddenly upon us." brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" crime." understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of searched, without anything being found which could incriminate "In what way?" asked Holmes. "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He the stable lane now." "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did together. and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." of them has the shutters up.' hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The leave you to your papers for a little." "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is "Precisely so. But how--" we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box away to you." his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about "'Stolen!' he cried. "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office the nursery. "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would were wasted." went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know promised to bring home. matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had "No. His orders were to stay in the house." young Openshaw's." "I have my revolver," said I. generous with you in money matters.' or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send "That is also quite modern," said the lady. expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat Holmes' thin, eager face. seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the point in the dark hollow of his hand. first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should been." against a man in the prime of life?" Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural "Nothing." into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons without success. At last the little money which I had saved began "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low what these perils are?" original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some next day. pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal suggested at once that there must be a communication between the "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low Holmes rather sternly. do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the "None." I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every hands. brought there to personate someone, and the real person is the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the "How did that help you?" "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the at my remark. fuss that is made over them." repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what gentleman's clothes. which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is better in every way that they should make their position a little He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the