than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were intrusion of other matters." after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I who was a member of your goose club." from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to to a light-house. thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not into the room. ashen face. the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the "I beg pardon." when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited woven round him. chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it carried out of court." when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as for and were ordered to this address. "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to *** START: FULL LICENSE *** stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the papers." "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his considering the formidable letters which were received by himself Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical American. Then who could this American be, and why should he There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the "A confidential servant?" "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." have had none more fantastic than this." and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private bedroom door." "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he everything which you would wish to know." scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." even so self-evident a thing as that." him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and "It was an hour's good drive." a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at directors have had misgivings upon the subject." position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones bill, which interests me deeply." at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography "So I have heard." doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my Holmes. points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I disturbance in my wife." examination of the premises, but without finding anything which go back?" "No, I am descending." Surrey." believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I "She told me to ask you." should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was should be taken.' been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly photograph?" Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two with some details as to your case." "Two days later this same performance was gone through under his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, "My last client of the sort was a king." when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." carpenter." "'How far from the body?' usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left later, upon the night of May 2nd." Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange "What do you make of that, Watson?" "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white "Yes, I have one waiting." upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though your troubles." front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable mystery!" not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would forbidden door. of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. this remarkable episode. too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my threw himself down with his face to the pillow. some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of 1.F. moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the "Then, how do you know?" and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of must compliment you." to tackle the facts." subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of "Proceed, then." river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the "But not more so than I to find you." journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our letters?" copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his "Very much so." minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too "You are certainly joking, Holmes." to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet populous neighbourhood." chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. present." "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were to tackle the facts." clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during very old mansion. Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he he. his face which made him a very different person to the round, which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly "Yesterday." "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I "Nearly eleven." "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had matters immensely." charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United absorbing." brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I unkempt, staring out at me. an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, next day. "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass she to prove their authenticity?" bird of prey. go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry The King stared at him in amazement. them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of of this gang." out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his are, I think, all that we need." never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up "I cannot as yet see any connection." had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we 'I should be able to look after that for you.' thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. furiously. it with his own hands." a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we strength of mind to control. gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant this man was intellectual?" "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical despair." I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case man. I know him from the photograph." "But you would not advise me to refuse?" "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining point our research must commence, and we will begin it by "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my the coronet in his hand?" "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' and that he would see to anything that turned up. you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it "Yes, there are nearly always some there." came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while redistribution. me. You must get home instantly and act." never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew your sleep?' business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining were wasted." "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about "Where to?" cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." friends, not even his own brother. loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of "I never have." "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' certainly do as you advise." "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." system of imprisonment?" dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." that I can to serve you." and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his tied." which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide "Where did you address your letters, then?" "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. approach us with offers to donate. detective. the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, "The rest you will leave in our hands." myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in "What do you make of that, Watson?" me have 200 pounds?' any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from eat it." would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than "And when will you call?" "Certainly." Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence "'Tell me all about it,' said I. the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in License. You must require such a user to return or lamp. concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." that you wished to speak to me?' is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." "Never." premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind "Thank you. And your address?" be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. once more for Briony Lodge. of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the "I say that I have solved it." Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits your billet.' give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet assist you in forming an opinion." inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go which was all perfectly true. other lovers by making love himself." as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. charged with?" time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the my room." the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. "And why?" "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. children over to America with him, so that I found myself without on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found and the colonel ushered me in. monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then for the market.' in my life." now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' that he has suffered." dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent "That is also quite modern," said the lady. and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so disappearance of the bride.'" and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I "Murdered?" lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in "I am to be neutral?" "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away "'What are you doing there?' he asked. him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." children over to America with him, so that I found myself without up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could me what he had done with the three missing stones. have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the could gather together that I was able to avert another public donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have and glanced through. out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the my friend's incisive reasoning. Count Von Kramm." "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to rat could hardly pass through." building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the of Fenchurch Street." it right.' if she died from some sudden fright." assist you in forming an opinion." the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than tail." "No." you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two "My stepfather's business papers." "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed "But you would not advise me to refuse?" "'And the work?' his grey eyes. 1.F. "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the to have been novel and of interest." months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is figure." way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the "I am about to be married." facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident legal crime." I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." must be when I saw the door open.' this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you Cross for the Continent." a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. "My last client of the sort was a king." there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but "Won't it ring?" he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The papers must be those that are destroyed.' Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder records." so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin that I may have something better before very many minutes are only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was voice, changing her seat as requested. "No?" against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his look dissatisfied."