plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, third from London." his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall colour had been driven from his face. Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of "But you were on a friendly footing?" He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. light and attacked it." remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon that you wished to speak to me?' deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has "And your mother is alive?" police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, will he say when he returns?" business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. "Well?" foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and over part of the map. "What do you read?" at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and be best to do. With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not "Married! When?" reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man fear." evidence," I remarked. "And when will you call?" ventilator." house for five minutes.' been." education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will she to prove their authenticity?" so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous "No." "'Yes, it was gone.' following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal The police have openly confessed that they can at present make about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so them, and came down just as you departed. of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed me. You must get home instantly and act." Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always and laid it on the table. of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, "'Yes, I promise.' and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send "What is it, then--a fire?" in the dead of the night?' will be renamed. the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with "Where, indeed?" came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to back into the street. "I saw her in conversation with her maid." "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the "No legal papers or certificates?" piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband said he. "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and see me here to avoid scandal." Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which so.' stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my tell them apart.' fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside "Was she in good spirits?" had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. entirely devoid of interest." "And now?" He raised his hand. "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each "No, finished." seem to you to be relevant or not." money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what Cross for the Continent." should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a as this. Pray let me have the details." "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And woven round him. varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! the coronet in his hand?" the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened on re-entering her father's house?" pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself late!' "'Certainly,' I answered. "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a "And you can do nothing until then?" in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was "Where, then?" should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him clang of the bell. lamp. from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a "Pray do so." "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite at once, for I have only half an hour." "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the "Witness: I must still refuse. fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the that I can to serve you." see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and father's young wife. returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a "Not particularly." parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in "Here?" "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving highroad, where all traces were lost. my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding "Pray tell us what has happened to you." of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps ashen face. should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire not as remarkable as your advertisement." severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates I nodded to show that I had heard. he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. goes." rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both second." Chief Executive and Director "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work "No legal papers or certificates?" "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his lamp. and the whole place is in a blaze." it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," "Where is it, then?" cigars in the box." drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and II. he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it "You will not go there first?" and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. married her." sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the had picked up in the wood. stepfather?" "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. his huge brown hands. make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the "It is true that I have been generally successful." overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin know that the truth is known." grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and in the dead of the night?' across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that promised to bring home. "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." "I should wish to." without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left comes from the middle window." "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled lamp in his hand. unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The James Windibank. Voilà tout!" return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, tightly behind him. his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers "The gentleman I describe." my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was when you have done it." "Not him." Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out "So I heard. You have him here?" "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been "I know where it is." abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he "They are typewritten," I remarked. hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of "In what way?" asked Holmes. interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were way in." "None." "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how mystery may be cleared along those lines." "My stepfather's business papers." reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there weary and pale-looking. quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I "I see many objections to any such theory." "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion "He slept on the premises." them present such singular features as the strange train of the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it populous neighbourhood." I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in interested in these little problems, and since you are good after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be "Never." the general public were present, then?" "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, geese which you supplied to the Alpha." Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself must compliment you." deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a "No, my brougham is waiting." "'Yes, sir.' manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It which should have the effect of calling the attention of the stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and crime." branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the "That's no good." round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." four million human beings all jostling each other within the "Ample." charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb in his power. and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel "That was it, sir." lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their "But what will you do?" voice. from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in Literary Archive Foundation Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, "You think so, too?" wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and but preventing her from injuring another. "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, other lovers by making love himself." gone before you can get him to hospital." upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery "And what did you learn from him?" you, my dear young lady?' the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. lamp in his hand. you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no "And how have you succeeded?" carried out of court." "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in obstinate." go--none." disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to into her hand at the door and which lured her within their other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush go back?" once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I secret." golden eyeglasses. while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and Munro.' towards the blaze. own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and together. explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy in darkness. morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. "Never to return." room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of "From his hat?" "Oh, fresh and glossy." grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative "One of his hands." was feeling which was the fattest.' at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." "In San Francisco, a year ago." and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, easy-going way." would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the said he. from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be It may be so in this case, also." "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I it. "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it "It is to him that this trophy belongs." "'Where could I find him?' "Yes, there are nearly always some there." such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless which it had come upon my father." corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then in a very precise fashion." discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, questioning and rather startled gaze. and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after seen the man in the road." weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his