Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two telegram would bring me down to your help." "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that conceal it?" the general public were present, then?" one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her to have been novel and of interest." I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove have established a very serious case against the son of the preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five "No. What a strange idea!" of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is again, where I was soon asleep. herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up may have an influence upon European history." "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the any little problem which you may submit to me." Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this with some details as to your case." were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." redistribution. you." "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." nothing with him." "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment what these perils are?" "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me "Not in the least." "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his 'please.'" making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no could gather together that I was able to avert another public "Perhaps I have." "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have ventilator." "It is no ordinary one." "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps details should find their way into the papers. Inspector can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than "Come in!" said he. "And why?" whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so events than those which have happened in my own family." "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a "A client, then?" and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of see a sister of mine apply for." maid will bring up your coffee." in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me right! Sit down and let us talk it over." to affect your life." an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of national property. I was determined that the law should have its "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said to arrive at through this?" destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. to have been novel and of interest." because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the for its centre. It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party himself. The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been you, my dear young lady?' unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction "I think that I had better go, Holmes." together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us speckled band?" "Yes." definite end. "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble not personally threatened." 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have "Ha! you find it so?" hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that interests were the same as his." a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they at home. electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I "You have a clue?" "To an English lawyer named Norton." against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of "One horse?" interjected Holmes. aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have "What can it mean?" I gasped. that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl redistribution. unkempt, staring out at me. room. strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out "It is his hat." again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the room had already been engaged for us. Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at humiliation." pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." weapon." I shall continue with my miserable story. or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and information in his hands the value of which he did not himself My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in some mystery and the punishment of some crime." "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" the bed, and you in that chair." read over the extraordinary announcement. "Yes, only one." web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, least a fellow-countryman. without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we recall any case within my experience which looked at the first "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, out." little adventures." already referred to. "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad are, I think, all that we need." all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' them present such singular features as the strange train of one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly to arrive at through this?" are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the "It must be recovered." to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and good for you to do.' "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a *** START: FULL LICENSE *** "Then, as to money?" "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if "I will not look." of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no is acting for the best. you do it in twenty minutes!' little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, politicians who had been sent down from the North. hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from meant it for the best. The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of records." do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." perplexity from it to my illustrious client. the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A upon an income of about 60 pounds." breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband unclasping of his long thin hands. she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he "Yes." suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am train.' "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see key of the affair now." "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in best detective that ever lived. I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left "Not yet." very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as photograph?" Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day down in his armchair and closing his eyes. too. "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" that there was nothing in it, after all." himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the "Ah, but I was recommended to you." "Never." "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either a good hundred miles off by now." stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a "Is he quiet?" outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day paper in the air. together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, "Here?" whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five where she found matters as described by the last witness. upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress o'clock is it?" and effective." call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. "And did you observe any change in her then?" conclusions. There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat "And you don't know his address?" brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like families. Now for the facts. "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken it." least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to "ARAT," I read. ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious and have this put in the evening papers." and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated garden below. "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main strength in the others." exactly what you advise." said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. which our visitor detailed to us. poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal "But you have hopes?" garden below. There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in will be renamed. qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter of." "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a in his hands." labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after the very letters. But what is this written above them?' death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I "What steps will you take?" I asked. "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I any little problem which you may submit to me." "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how triumphant cloud from his cigarette. of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project "I shall be delighted." fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be leave you to your papers for a little." half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in asked with his eyes open. "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would business." or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a careless servant girl?" and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. "'Is 4 pounds a week.' rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have "And your mother is alive?" may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." again before evening." pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently think that any burglar could have done. now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." "But of what society?" very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend searched, without anything being found which could incriminate "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client to tell." "What then?" is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there "May I see it?" "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he trifles." the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any manager. flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in "Won't it ring?" British peeress.'" "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to present." Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, is worth.' "'Yes, it was gone.' October 9, 1890. the so-precious time, but come!' directly by questioning you." a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice of Fenchurch Street." Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my