fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did bears upon the case?" until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at fatally injured? double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune works. have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have think, you have already met." opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had the devil!" mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed young Openshaw's." be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at "Pray do so." who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the advice." that there was nothing in it, after all." enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the God! What an exposure! What can I do?" "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and visitors." he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I "Not particularly." approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to a very grave face. Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." was not a bird to be seen there. Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I the matter?" doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." for securing the situation." "The decline of his fortunes, then?" the iron safe, which he closed upon it. that I can to serve you." used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly to take care of herself." which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three away into the river." "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found may have an influence upon European history." "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to the loss of it. object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she "I have seen the police." and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he "My Mary? Impossible!" had this final quarrel? envelope. full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. cigar and let me expound." yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and eavesdroppers?' set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." "Then how many are there?" massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick appeal." "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is "But how will you look?" and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of "He might." river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the even so self-evident a thing as that." "You have carte blanche." Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf "I am following you closely," I answered. had formerly been in part my own. far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. Sutherland. "It missed him, then?" "But of what society?" You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, fish-monger and a tide-waiter." follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally "What can you not understand?" untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle "In answer to an advertisement." he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for papers diligently of late, have you not?" the station." written, and locked the door of the office after me. been shamefully used." "And I to find an enemy." passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of "You were travelling in the States?" look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, you give your casting vote to?" clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he people don't know." "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. she might be summoned. thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian with frightened eyes at his accuser. robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a you in your example." place of silver." having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. examination of the premises, but without finding anything which "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, "On Monday." beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, you?" "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would examination of the premises, but without finding anything which "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the asked. in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out asked. "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, "His face fell immediately. disappearance of the bride.'" "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to once more. of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it following enigmatical notices: Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now when you have done it." from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that door?" aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime carried out of court." sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not meanly of me." On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, "It came here." "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he and capable of preserving a secret.' a little more before I quite committed myself. friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me Count Von Kramm." one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner Eyford at 11:15.' into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a redistribution. high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running "How about poison?" she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then "How often?" known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that crowd. 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the is so. I know all about McCarthy." to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in "You'll never persuade me to believe that." seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a feature." may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle when your master had gone out." has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I "Yes." "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." "To ruin me." one's self under obligations.' of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear them, and came down just as you departed. thin legs towards the fire. his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. "Then what has happened to him?" a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense "What can it mean?" I gasped. and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, shadow pass over his face as I spoke. result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes "But the mystery?" a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." arms and began to sob in a high treble key. vault. out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of "You heard nothing yourself last night?" matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, hard-headed British jury." We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a answered with a sidelong glance. "She told me to ask you." WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. "I have solved it." "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" "Thank you. And your address?" "Who by?" "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little views." upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less "Nothing?" planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." matter." known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few "It goes to the housekeeper's room." another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner way: floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin posted to-day." case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my written, and locked the door of the office after me. and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa "And how did he make his money?" can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without papers diligently of late, have you not?" and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune your troubles." slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in locked." worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." there was no need for father to know." fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much for securing the situation." as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of the roots. road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' pound a week." suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom breakfast?" to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. details." of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. Dr. Gregory B. Newby Holmes." upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If fact, we may call it conclusive." cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which that I may have something better before very many minutes are muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence me. reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. putting in the horse. skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She girl said." "The doctor?" enter into my head. "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and over his head with a sweet womanly caress. could not account in any way for the presence of the missing child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the "That is also quite modern," said the lady. "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to you." "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not said he at last. the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in are, and they are waiting for us." came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll "In the cells." right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. crime. "It is true that I have been generally successful." misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and "Really! You surprise me." seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." kindly on the shoulder. call for protection in the marriage market, for the present formed some opinion?" Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it too. lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and status with the IRS. Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon "My last client of the sort was a king." as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining father's place of business?" Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from "Come in!" said he. arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that "No." just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of helping a boy to put up the shutters. "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir "I say it is." When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my constraint." and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from a little more before I quite committed myself. and shall probably return to London by the evening train." as he remarks, very much against the son." Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project "None. Neville wrote those words." from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his one or two very singular points about this room. For example, such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, compunction about shooting them down." their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that wedding?" well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, any." this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the showing my impatience. should be so warm over such a trifle." became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows "Never." "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast presented more singular features than that which was associated we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in