a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" "'Yes.' particular state visit http://pglaf.org "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very you." relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the "What will you say?" "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better them, and came down just as you departed. "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come six. Come in!" "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel be. one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. my former friend and companion. without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we she used." Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! "Yes, it would be as well." little adventures." "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. "Yes, they were peculiar boots." folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone in my life." springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain during that time.' Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to said he. "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He the one as in the other." whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone "If I can be of use." moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing to you." "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. "Yes." away in different directions, and I went off to make my own Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere "Perhaps we may make them less so." The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was so far?" reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the derbies." five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. DAMAGE. compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of forbidden door. fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and until night should bring an explanation. Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You conclusions. our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had and that he would see to anything that turned up. "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So we went to search for him, face downward in a little Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' "May I see it?" nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many Holmes rather sternly. from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, It may be so in this case, also." the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They gives a meaning to it." keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. into her hand at the door and which lured her within their "No, my brougham is waiting." Mrs. Toller serenely. really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled suggested at once that there must be a communication between the "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. believe that I should never have any practice at all. "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to people in all walks of life. "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has sit on the left-hand side of the driver." glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late used to be." Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been is entirely a question of barometric pressure." "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had "No good news?" something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side "Dr. Becher's." and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. "Entirely." tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he again on its way. "Was he the only applicant?" "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper have been better. It is all right." were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the heavy and sharp instrument." inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to The summons was a brief and urgent one. my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, "But you have hopes?" six. Come in!" then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic murdered man." man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You searched, without anything being found which could incriminate Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your The note was undated, and without either signature or address. refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems I was concerned in it." that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking "VIOLET HUNTER." "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit here." Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no highly," said Holmes. smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with "Only as much as we can deduce." I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. dramatic, in fact." detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most morning." "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, about. bears upon the case?" girl said." looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the are windows in it, of course?" my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this it." "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I "By train from Waterloo." visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the fuss that is made over them." farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and coat-tails." "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us again on its way. "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that closing the door. attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At made him keep the appointment." "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and colonel looking down at me. "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a "Very much so." "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project might have a private word with us. takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who bachelor.' it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any some place of shelter and let the county police know what has "Nor running a chance of arrest?" "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle fled together." advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper there when the Rucastles went away." pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular dates and names. more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. Pope's Court. would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to late." "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered telegram would bring me down to your help." too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into "Was he the only applicant?" the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that appeared upon the scene." home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A "Who was the criminal, then?" "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our from you?" been with you?" public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his "I cannot tell." he. "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small and put his glass in his pocket. as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of province." wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon "What shall I do?" introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for "This photograph!" "That you are never beaten." well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the strong and stiff." chair. "What! You do not mean bodies?" the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of me where it went to?" vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very friend's singular character. wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and an introduction to him?" person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was walking." my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that attention." his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal it means?" to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out and it need not interfere very much with one's other that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather I am not easy in my mind about them." "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that "No more words. Get out!" facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and that I am arrested." this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded see a sister of mine apply for." side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against disappearance of these gems?" someone who had been in Australia." father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing next day. by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." anything to a woman, for she would have her way." "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors observed. continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I "'What would be the hours?' I asked. "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as over here." "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey "He said too much." in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, cigars in their mouths. and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug and effective." "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more late." so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous be. which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his in his hands." keep the flames under. "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." "Yes." refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at "Pray do so." to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and and I shall be with you presently." "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a everything which you would wish to know." "'Oh, no.' heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each "I never have." toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and his fortune, and I went back to pa. little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House "You know me, then?" from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day "There are none." as noiselessly as she had come. "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual what is your own theory as to what took place?" in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what "She showed me, as I told you she would." "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all "My own seal." "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of upon the sideboard." your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer for the market.' "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb "I guessed as much." the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he "Not in a good cause." It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be nothing of it?" Leadenhall Street--and--" admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.'