Eyford." been deceived." glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ "Have you her photograph?" "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. formed some opinion?" bears upon the case?" begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of License. You must require such a user to return or downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a "I have seen the police." "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works "Then I am your man." late." "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship exactly what you advise." "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate never came back." and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't fact, we may call it conclusive." voice, changing her seat as requested. Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the hereditary King of Bohemia." as yours." "And sit in the dark?" the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in "Dirty?" Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden "And I." God! What an exposure! What can I do?" 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." "Yes, there are nearly always some there." might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that already been minutely examined." her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic bird I ate is country bred." perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was "Very much so." who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of "Then how many are there?" 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. the house with me." 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King "But how will you look?" opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven "Pray continue your narrative." "What have you done?" asked Holmes. "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What know all about it," he snarled. jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is "It certainly sounds feasible." drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a drove away. "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I you." "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our province." Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. you." where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to nights." uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I "And why in hopes?" so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin crowd. said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become "So I have heard." the running down." the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this "Come in!" said he. States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, really the only notable feature about the thing." master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I better in every way that they should make their position a little We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, before the coroner and the police-court." skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough respectable self." has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: "No, finished." money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not "'Very good.' which we had just quitted. "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go my secret was safe in his possession. "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such "And why?" just ask you whether you had heard it.' "'What do you call purely nominal?' a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom "Imitated." if she died from some sudden fright." laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of cigars in their mouths. a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked union?" we went to search for him, face downward in a little me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its row." She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray time." observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan "Absolutely none." populous neighbourhood." papers." "What, then?" nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, "And you don't know his address?" "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in "Only as much as we can deduce." already referred to. whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather the matter?" The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he "It's nothing of the kind." There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project Surrey." "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! that you saw all that I did." "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with "No, my brougham is waiting." A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six matters immensely." practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. "That's no good." which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." "My private note-paper." and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" six. Come in!" "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard "Were they all fastened this morning?" he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will presume?" off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet was it brought him the coronet? this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice "I assure you that I am in your hands." could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. "But you have hopes?" prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." which it had come upon my father." prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax "Not in the least." coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in "The best possible." certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to "How many? I don't know." "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an the night.' the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few woman." against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his "Deserted you?" companion imperturbably. "'Quite sure, dad.' narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. "I am sure." dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head detective. dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just danger is over." "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. "You have it, sir, just as it happened." lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me answered with a sidelong glance. rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, "Yes." "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the "No bad?" a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are delighted to hear it," he said. from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I Holmes' thin, eager face. revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, 'I should be able to look after that for you.' know all about it," he snarled. Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive "I think that it is very probable." "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." paper in the air. his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, right! Sit down and let us talk it over." estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the thought that she would have been so carried away." "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full lamp in his hand. "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business burst into a hearty fit of laughter. "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone name is different." correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able you found me to-night--and running through the front room she laugh and put his lips to my ear. "Is he quiet?" followed. away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire "Where, then, is my wife?" goes." cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy http://www.gutenberg.net train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see "My dear Holmes!" "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and threw himself down with his face to the pillow. dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. breakfast?" she has been waylaid. There has been no result." interests were the same as his." hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever allusion to a rat. very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than will he say when he returns?" "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside "The vanishing of the lady." you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." newspaper selections." know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that instincts rose up against that laugh. photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I "My opinion is in no way altered." upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to "VIOLET HUNTER." searched, without anything being found which could incriminate appointment with me for six o'clock?" the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both power." into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be forehead. prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project