owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir hands. very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK the little opening for the ventilator is." "My stepfather's business papers." vault. that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of call it cruel." terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black "How often?" scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our indeed which he could not unravel. as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at I. to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" "Of what day?" With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes words came to my lips. George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil "He said that you could solve anything." however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he to affect your life." the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain is four-and-twenty." "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found been with you?" had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after "'Why that?' I asks. of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, 'I should be able to look after that for you.' The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and away in different directions, and I went off to make my own can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all some place of shelter and let the county police know what has conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my shoulder. many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which disappearance of the bride.'" "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced have not had my rubber." that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until the house with me." This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: asked. bird I ate is country bred." great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came from the brougham. "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the the Assizes." "What have you to say now?" she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be this remarkable episode. "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his gbnewby@pglaf.org arms and began to sob in a high treble key. whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit his face which made him a very different person to the round, is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I "We were both in the photograph." copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" of receipt of the work. objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote "You have a clue?" "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in introspective fashion. have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must your billet.' whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had asked. "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, miles off. "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some "So I have heard." dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he "Murdered?" Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me you." brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel been deceived." "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her your most interesting statement." a few minutes he said that it would be all right. lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," narrative." into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do is four-and-twenty." floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with "To an English lawyer named Norton." him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the jewels which you have stolen?' "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and the coronet at all injured?" What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be business matters.' slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps "I am in hopes that she does." "And is that all?" suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party Foundation "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was salesman. is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, "I should wish to." "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." "She walked into the breakfast-room." better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you "Entirely." "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire standing smiling on the door-step. half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has my former friend and companion. safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The murdered man." I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall matter over." imbecility!" he cried. extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. gentleman's clothes. perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a generous with you in money matters.' was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. was once confined in the cab my mission was practically deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his "I answered that I had not. no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, in the dead of the night?' "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and could not account in any way for the presence of the missing heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between appeal." again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the "Quite so. She has her freedom." search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it spare." hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police tapping his fingers upon the table. an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon ago." Count Von Kramm." waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch "Yes. He waved his hands." yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it "No, thank goodness, she did not." "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of in one or two places in England?' Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. "Never." The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with least a fellow-countryman. The note was undated, and without either signature or address. the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite silent! Oh, he will be silent!' maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give McCarthy." "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the evidence," I remarked. Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he murdered man." and the church but not where the lady lived." keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the written. "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." evidence," I remarked. subject to the trademark license, especially commercial His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the did not hear it also.' autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" "How often?" light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." "Where is it, then?" shall not find me ungrateful." "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at in a very precise fashion." until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try "We must sit without light. He would see it through the "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I my special province." "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and "How many? I don't know." description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." "Yes." values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure bird I ate is country bred." "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had golden eyeglasses. "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon "'Ample.' despaired of." events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great any." of note-paper. It read in this fashion: certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank point our research must commence, and we will begin it by force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I "So I am. Very much so." "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. me. You must get home instantly and act." down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham business came to an end." "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel I think that I could be of assistance to you." the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what which we had just quitted. "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. "Ah!" "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." you." "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in deduce something from that?" "'Where could I find him?' caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other time." kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little "Well, but China?" http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more think, you have already met." go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a carpenter." observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between had picked up in the wood. the roots. without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the already referred to. The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of Street. you, my dear young lady?' "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between "You heard nothing yourself last night?" http://www.gutenberg.net "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and words came to my lips. been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I I nodded to show that I had heard. wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the From what you have told me I think that it is possible that notes," he said. to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." enough to aid us in our search." Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep tied." "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose telegram would bring me down to your help." really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the and capable of preserving a secret.' "You horrify me!" "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I danger is over." appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope and it need not interfere very much with one's other against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and was not a bird to be seen there. Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of unprecedented a position." "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one man. with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to characteristics, but those are the more obvious." the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your "What is it, then--a fire?" 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," knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad.