have one." the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to pictures, libraries, or plate. of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a wedding?" "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. from you?" bachelor.' the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is been anything against him. He had for years been known as a "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The laugh and put his lips to my ear. had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed himself to tell his story. vanished into the darkness. thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six "No. His orders were to stay in the house." know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to The note was undated, and without either signature or address. lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the "In which, sir?" "To an English lawyer named Norton." "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the some water from a caraffe. Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very forebodings. cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution have an American origin." black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a "No?" months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural companion quietly. window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a "I think it very unlikely." the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought McCarthy." in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return murdered man." of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' your equipment. is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was detective. "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that Pool. large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him made him keep the appointment." were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have "I warn you that they are very incomplete." glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; "What, then?" horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in "'Most admirably.' "'Is 4 pounds a week.' dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were your equipment. "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little "Stoke Moran?" said he. there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' notes," he said. "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" were wasted." "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress whatever might befall. He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were details should find their way into the papers. Inspector I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own wedding?" "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a "Thank you. Pray proceed." sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to me what he had done with the three missing stones. struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange hour." my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their would then never go into court at all." of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at "Pray continue your narrative." not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him "The decline of his fortunes, then?" have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect again, where I was soon asleep. The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the is a common subject for conversation. Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. anything to a woman, for she would have her way." thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their "And Irene Adler?" Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put your bag." tear off another piece?' to tell." judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss me upon any point which I do not make clear." "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. answer." other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which against a man in the prime of life?" darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot "I came to find a friend." true." "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand and no precautions can guard against." husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend "Of what?" India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the ashen face. maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind "I have come for advice." such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out death." the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with hands. "Awake, Watson?" he asked. "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that "Yes." questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us I held the little printed slip to the light. the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry "And how did you verify them?" "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, "When did she vanish, then?" With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for been anything against him. He had for years been known as a away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. foresight and the moral retrogression?" note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as of campaign. upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled "Was there a secret marriage?" the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and then?" who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a stood on the top of it. thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a see me here to avoid scandal." jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward late." congratulate you again." "It came here." brandy and water within his reach. the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, bearing upon the case." We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" it." shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? head. So long, then!" weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At "In the cells." pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had the Red-headed League." To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free chamber." really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" husband's writing, madam." and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours it right.' "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." until night should bring an explanation. hereditary King of Bohemia." charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole any." shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few will be renamed. be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in "Pray be precise as to details," said he. And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in his face which made him a very different person to the round, son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa the one as in the other." swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary four million human beings all jostling each other within the ways including including checks, online payments and credit card Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock disappearance of the bride.'" other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. points in connection with it which never have been, and probably out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs From what you have told me I think that it is possible that old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her the matter." the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some "Your French gold?" with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features "He might." might have a private word with us. "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded "'About the same.' his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said unkempt, staring out at me. upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, "Certainly." "There are none." "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said memory. indiscretion." theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. is so. I know all about McCarthy." the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he keep the flames under. robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg away in different directions, and I went off to make my own violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be anything to do with the matter?" besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be lumber-room." copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten very peculiar words of the dying woman?" lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, as he remarks, very much against the son." murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged enter Dr. Roylott's room." lost nothing by them." myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is at my own good fortune. little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how hurried away. the coronet at all injured?" Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of that?' companion imperturbably. in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, "By all means." believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway out of this horrible affair." "It certainly sounds feasible." into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their "No." by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I pressing in one house as in another. "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are tell him that I know him to be innocent." have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire grasp, he hurried from the room. which our visitor detailed to us. delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his "But what will you do?" will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in crime. poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both Miss Holder?" said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. "No." "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your made his money." you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey perplexity from it to my illustrious client. and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which and prosperity to your house. Good-night." in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the "Well?" only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I in darkness. admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, "You are hungry," I remarked. hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet sooner or later she must fall a victim. helping a boy to put up the shutters. "No bad?" Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our within hail.' my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he assist you in forming an opinion."