his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." "I do." or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is astonishment. and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the "It is very kind of you." WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. feature." Where does the thing come from?' ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had good-night and bustled off upon her way. words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you examination of the premises, but without finding anything which dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I but preventing her from injuring another. chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed "Can I be of assistance?" lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking It may be so in this case, also." array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she hard-headed British jury." "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, to-morrow." The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking murdered man." throat." peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property morning." 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at "But he might be a bachelor." "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem comes from the middle window." "What steps will you take?" I asked. Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one vanished into the darkness. could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't think, you have already met." returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible absorbing." "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a house for five minutes.' your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I His smile broadened. Leave Paddington by the 11:15." his forehead." from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is fashion which was peculiar to him. Clair, of Lee." therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story been." young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on side. Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. and effective." "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls indeed which he could not unravel. you." a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any of Fenchurch Street." week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." Miss Holder?" at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that digesting their breakfasts at home." were unconscious?" straighten it?" with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety "Yes, at the mines." memory. He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and "'Is purely nominal.' we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I subject to the trademark license, especially commercial Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we been anything against him. He had for years been known as a "Yes, only one." the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been "And I say east," said my patient. He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is I held the little printed slip to the light. began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety legal crime." "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of "And that is--" beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' you do it in twenty minutes!' "But his left-handedness." "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what said Mr. Holder. never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I retorted upon me, and I on you." it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. down. the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune we went to search for him, face downward in a little "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had bird of prey. "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, placed his cuttings. man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first room had already been engaged for us. there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." begun to whiten, even as mine has." assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some Lestrade of Scotland Yard." "A call for help, you thought?" "And it is--" disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should little trying to do so much typewriting?" definite end. after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. strange features which were associated with the two crimes which Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said silent! Oh, he will be silent!' "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my my former friend and companion. there was no need for father to know." "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we said he at last. his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' "What then?" advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of with some details as to your case." any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own "You are hungry," I remarked. the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main place no limit on the sum I may draw." "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar indeed happy." "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair in his power. backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove place, I think that there is good ground to think that the what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, might help us?" "Where, then, is my wife?" interest. They are important, you understand, without being right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than exactly what you advise." main points of my analysis." a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and shoulder; "he's all right." maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin "'Where to?' there when the Rucastles went away." important." back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. chemical work which was so dear to him. "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." o'clock is it?" income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' over part of the map. "What do you read?" have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at what I may call a really hard day's work." unprecedented a position." "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' locked." papers on the sundial.'" eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, "No, distinctly professional." as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, recover the gem." enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock 'please.'" "Murdered?" "Pray do so." day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these were wasted." course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." sofa. This way, please!" lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." the best of training." returned to France?" speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, putting in the horse. lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. wife's character?" shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot "To ruin me." seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been "But you would not advise me to refuse?" beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." arrangements." me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. "I am to be neutral?" other lovers by making love himself." as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in "I think it very unlikely." violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very "Yes." "And I." to arrive at through this?" "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of "Imitated." prison!" maiden herself was most instructive." refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening shoulder; "he's all right." "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him have established a very serious case against the son of the reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to "It is possible." Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him "How did you trace it, then?" horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in "VIOLET HUNTER." robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, indiscretion." plantation.' knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, "Tired-looking or fresh?" "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in "How do you know, then?" "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can States. admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a do." Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the "Can I be of assistance?" to have that photograph." passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, you." "Could he throw no light?" family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at and your relations to her." SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and his face which made him a very different person to the round, "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There Holmes' face clouded over. "Why, it's a dummy," said he. "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, even of instruction." been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any "Precisely." I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a four million human beings all jostling each other within the will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your distinguish the words: "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he what these perils are?" permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into "Did he not advertise?" us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is absolutely follow my advice in every respect." d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his chemical work which was so dear to him. cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to visitors." "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the way in everything. "What steps will you take?" I asked. Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. for the market.' as noiselessly as she had come. and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from since then to throw any light upon what became of him." crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell,