smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before room had already been engaged for us. him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. "It is his hat." rooms." point our research must commence, and we will begin it by and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little seen the man in the road." him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not think that he is innocent?" - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have hand, madam?" bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to "I have seen the police." the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and upon the sideboard." "'Yes, sir.' garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was yards of it?' "Stolen, then." "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body "Yes, sir." called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. "I have hopes." understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a I leave." "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a "Get out!" said he. his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the highly," said Holmes. lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. chambers. Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do these bleak autumnal evenings." "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. few hundred pounds.' understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be the coronet in his hand?" "She told me to ask you." "The gentleman I describe." to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the "I would pay ten." our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. His name is Francis Prosper." perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite "I say that I have solved it." Holmes' face clouded over. Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." "I should be immensely obliged to you." loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our lamp in his hand. him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have the Red-headed League." approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time hands. Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to there when the Rucastles went away." made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, and the whole place is in a blaze." their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the Leadenhall Street--and--" "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged less than 26s. 4d. was not a bird to be seen there. the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that "Were they all fastened this morning?" opportunities to fix the problem. headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from "What are they?" "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said fait accompli?" "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, "'Yes.' friend's singular character. "Never." "Her father is very rich?" "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week "The doctor?" You can understand that this register and diary may implicate "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of "What can it mean?" I gasped. minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was "It certainly sounds feasible." "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do "Imitated." the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the later, upon the night of May 2nd." paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I I shall continue with my miserable story. best detective that ever lived. confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. my little problems." turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since this man was intellectual?" and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur round and wave him away like that.' traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." "A call for help, you thought?" "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the "None." It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' in a friendly supper." "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it strode off upon his way. crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my it. front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what money should be paid at once.' "And why in hopes?" How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that "It is no ordinary one." Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak entirely devoid of interest." inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with matter." "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than enough to aid us in our search." not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you "How did you trace it, then?" borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; go from here to the Strand." "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he jewels which you have stolen?' like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He some place of shelter and let the county police know what has look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still "Nothing?" over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was "'What, the red-headed man?' "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the "'What then?' I asked. "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual "No, but the enclosure is." down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for "I will try. What is it?" which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. "And I say east," said my patient. "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who the house with me." empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." "Will you go?" empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too one's self under obligations.' That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could "You think that he is dead?" its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having him, that man would not have given me such complete information "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he was a perfect sample of the class. "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming overpowering excitement and concern. full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" "And Miss Sutherland?" was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not "That you are never beaten." recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend gentleman's clothes. light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire "Of what day?" collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and said Mr. Holder. the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich "You have compromised yourself seriously." "And what did you learn from him?" father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing unprofitable." take the flies, but not before." drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these "You horrify me!" resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble question. "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I felt?" The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even "Yes." my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and "Then I do not see the point." "And when will you call?" "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner enter into my head. that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and leaning back in his chair. not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking minor matters until to-morrow." the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard "How are you getting on?" partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as during the last few years, and there are many noble families to knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no the room while you explain this matter?" the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a the date of his supposed suicide." address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too "And help." not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do indeed happy." 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has that?' would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special infinite languor in his face. struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that "I will not look." "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive "The King of Scandinavia." explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast shoulder. of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, go--none." While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we hands. exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he "You have the photograph?" unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the prepare for the new role I have to play." "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this "And help." the general public were present, then?" Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his directly by questioning you." out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some of it with the greatest attention. rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the the stable lane now." the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his joking. "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a made him keep the appointment." such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, brain must have something in it." "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. and laid it on the table. chance." evidence," I remarked. note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. I have it here in my museum." down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet present strange and interesting features that it is no easy impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the ceremony." felt the room to be a little close.' "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time "It is possible." you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard one of the states of the Union." the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the "On Monday." which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take in your London, you will know that the office of the company is "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my appointment with me for six o'clock?" "What then?" "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There not fit the lock." make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir keep the flames under. met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me time." sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found more solid." read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, "'What would be the hours?' I asked. I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you matter." "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: her also." he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. "It is possible." "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what mystery." time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him "'Never.' souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to enter into my head. Young McCarthy must be got off, however." With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when The note was undated, and without either signature or address. broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite from you?" "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran points to suicide?" where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, face and glided from the room. and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. was lame." "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once.