search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in "The gentleman I describe." within hail.' "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." my special province." breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet green of the new foliage. 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want whether it answered to the description of any of their "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." whole matter to your consideration." wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation jewels which you have stolen?' country, and eventually married, without anyone having a Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned front of me. absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are "So it appears." The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable "Just look it up, then." first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the "What office?" week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William be. himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of "Nearly eleven." Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." eat it." nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? "I answered that I had not. so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so was feeling which was the fattest.' this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the or other trace. But how on earth--" hurried away. saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and situation." were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, locked." my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased it? Did I buy the geese off you?" "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort writers could invent nothing more crude." It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I and put his glass in his pocket. right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the your bag." hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, "If so, much may have happened between." "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after "And what did you see?" perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that "Certainly." gigantic client. eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 "And Miss Sutherland?" pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked swore that no one else had been in the front room during the "That also I could fathom." who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that key of the affair now." me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so "Not particularly." watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 "Was she in good spirits?" your only hope of safety." have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it "Yes, all." "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He have been better. It is all right." "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick "But how?" week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, gone before you can get him to hospital." my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such enough to aid us in our search." the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of burst into a hearty fit of laughter. Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a "Whose house is it?" "Not yet." there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty joking. considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets not use it unless it is absolutely needed." There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing "How do you know, then?" "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black chance." now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very furiously. to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I the inner apartment." of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, fact, we may call it conclusive." some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of his grey eyes. excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small these bleak autumnal evenings." "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." think you a quite exceptional woman." sooner or later she must fall a victim. inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at "I should be immensely obliged to you." of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the Leadenhall Street--and--" which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have the inner apartment." "How do you know, then?" of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the once more on the important position which you have been fortunate through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with "Proceed, then." His name is Francis Prosper." o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon "Never." "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. from the brougham. from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly which we had just quitted. the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I there!' where Mr. Fordham shows you.' rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and "I see no marks." Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to which it had come upon my father." at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not her also." foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, that you wished to speak to me?' "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I of Fenchurch Street." Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant "What is it, then--a fire?" black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, "It was a confession," I ejaculated. He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out residence of the great financier. say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind in a very precise fashion." colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my to-night?' "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few helping a boy to put up the shutters. to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. excitement. Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a "Never." of your young ladies.' key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw matters immensely." these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his forehead. lost his Christmas dinner." coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. "My private note-paper." copied or distributed: furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the the south-west, I see." refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it one's self under obligations.' broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words national property. I was determined that the law should have its Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I "None." soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for corner of the building. drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. "I assure you that I am in your hands." go--none." breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at "Well, it is a possible supposition." rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as "'Yes, I promise.' keep the flames under. http://www.gutenberg.net "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. have been better. It is all right." "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without "She will not sell." was keenly on my guard against him. "But how will you look?" the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you "It is his hat." hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She even of instruction." companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, the matter." and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property to-night's adventure." business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be over his head with a sweet womanly caress. "You have the photograph?" wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your could go. however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer not within a twentieth part of the market price." strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He "Then how many are there?" grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is "You forget that I know nothing about it." should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house them present such singular features as the strange train of "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers do you make of it all?" one of them." relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some union?" our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all "How long did she speak to this Alice?" outside." fear." "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not "I think that I had better go, Holmes." he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in "Who by?" through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this "You heard nothing yourself last night?" smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been that before taking the final step I should like to submit the the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be "Pray do so." "How did you deduce the select?" grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his "I am in hopes that she does." my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." License. You must require such a user to return or security.' "About a month then." "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I detective. shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of "The best possible." I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign "It is very clear." assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to "Why? What do you mean?" cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the "Certainly." "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with like gravel from a pit.' erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was "Well, but China?" the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the "Look there!" said he. the running down." you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke "It certainly sounds feasible." silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. "Then, how do you know?" aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with whole matter to your consideration." "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. me. You must get home instantly and act." think that he is innocent?" I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that "Awake, Watson?" he asked. "A client, then?" about. sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of "By no means." paper in the air. low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the tear off another piece?' have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of "What are they?" left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one salesman. the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his "I would pay ten." he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more kindly on the shoulder. matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his I shall communicate with you." shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon amused." "No, I am descending."