down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get "'About the same.' gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know manager. despaired of." "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and "And I say east," said my patient. DISSOLVED. black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your "In which, sir?" He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying there." One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a 'please.'" turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the "No." remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too "You'll never persuade me to believe that." and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the will not take me long to tell. "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, Literary Archive Foundation "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been "Then you may entirely rely on me." "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of instituted." assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round late." "But I have heard all that you have heard." clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no The telegram which we eventually received came late one night turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name "But you would not advise me to refuse?" "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain think, you have already met." beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. pierced for earrings?" do." "Dirty?" study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, the devil!" "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is to change my dress. relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but me upon any point which I do not make clear." fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked intimate personal affairs in this public manner." of the vacancies.' the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of Mrs. Toller serenely. you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the Street. little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and affection." have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do use an arc-and-compass breastpin." "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down States. "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said completely overtopped every other consideration that we both "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." The note was undated, and without either signature or address. considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. "But I have heard all that you have heard." self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. despair." "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, "Which surely he restored to their owner?" He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, horse could go." "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased enough to aid us in our search." suspect him." union?" refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent said Mr. Holder. "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in begin with, and I had not got mine yet." it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows most interesting one." "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been "How did he come?" hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it the roots. envelope. fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a the station." reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, name is different." drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural she to prove their authenticity?" mysterious end." "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. "Yes." within hail.' such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our gigantic client. sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the it? Did I buy the geese off you?" "You think so, too?" adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a strong reason behind." cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm not as remarkable as your advertisement." such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we "And now?" He raised his hand. "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the to talk it over. he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my happened." a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no "What can it mean?" I gasped. The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if again on its way. together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project direction." the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the think that any burglar could have done. air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right burst out into a roar of laughter. Foundation "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he Clair, of Lee." transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, until night should bring an explanation. moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a matters immensely." through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not lamp in his hand. that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double for its centre. Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing "Yes?" is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, "One of his hands." an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our "I shall be delighted." her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the "Awake, Watson?" he asked. sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' "It surprised me." "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, coat-tails." still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. Edgeware Road. even of instruction." the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom simple cases which are so extremely difficult." the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, "'Certainly not.' opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is dramatic, in fact." upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell "Precisely." are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this of this gang." "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms into the room. "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery asked. bedroom door." this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's and wait." weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a and glanced through. had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold other means.' heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." in one or two places in England?' nothing of it?" new duties?' days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the considering the formidable letters which were received by himself call it cruel." the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve the inner apartment." "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed to-night's adventure." written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been you." me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind room?" business matters.' "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and paper in the air. and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight "Was the window open?" "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a and effective." outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow "I have my revolver," said I. beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" to a light-house. James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me hand, madam?" thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich "I have seen the police." "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already face and glided from the room. rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round was shining brightly. member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a shall use the carriage to-night." "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, discontent upon his features. parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is carpenter." the room while you explain this matter?" "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the "'Then let me do so?' through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is little adventures." think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it "Oh, yes, easily." slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a noise which awoke you from your sleep?" other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the trying to your nerves." "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I Miss Holder?" think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly politicians who had been sent down from the North. "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. "She will not sell." other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. and inquire as to the address." have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the "Precisely." "Where is it, then?" "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." little adventures." his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were "I am sure." "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, "How can you tell that?" Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here Serpentine Avenue. fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the "What then?" panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! "We must have a cab." return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, Dr. Gregory B. Newby "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were