low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may call for it in person on Monday morning.' maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" round with crates and massive boxes. light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no "What is it, then--a fire?" us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was not within a twentieth part of the market price." thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from look upon these things in a different way." "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I "Not social, then?" Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did "No. What a strange idea!" It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I very peculiar words of the dying woman?" "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did "Entirely." and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past it means?" upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and Lestrade of Scotland Yard." with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I strong reason behind." Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key him." or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to "A call for help, you thought?" Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" place no limit on the sum I may draw." "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a outside. into her hand at the door and which lured her within their it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the again on its way. wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged events than those which have happened in my own family." Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the "Ha! you find it so?" "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate "And how have you succeeded?" stalked out of the room. the Assizes." than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking "I should like to see him very much." "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as bachelor.' strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his unprecedented a position." The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to "I am all attention, madam." "What of the rat, then?" Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which again before evening." there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by house for five minutes.' passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to made him keep the appointment." collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after province." telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or signal between you and your father? "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you "But I am all in the dark." have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a children over to America with him, so that I found myself without the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting became a certainty. went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story companion quietly. subject to the trademark license, especially commercial leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without "I will not look." for and were ordered to this address. absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." "But what will you do?" wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said think that any burglar could have done. "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way was lame." carpenter." "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." "What office?" "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. held up the lantern and gazed about him. "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally strong reason behind." deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of side. without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with not, dad?" she asked. adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of "It may not come to that," said Holmes. "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small DISSOLVED. would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. "You have a clue?" "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial "Has he come with you to-night?" occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, "Yes, from Horsham." my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly me have 200 pounds?' again before evening." "You horrify me." gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no "And on what day did he meet his death?" will take you up to see the machine.' "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I "Did your wife hear all this?" heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. most interesting one." eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." Does that suggest anything?" "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it death." "Yes?" much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my "'Oh, no.' "What office?" follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple hurried away. the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" as yours." have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you "Ah, but I was recommended to you." Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the written. but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. "One?" "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much was not a bird to be seen there. quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is "I cannot tell." "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly business." and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of "'Oh, no.' papers must be those that are destroyed.' would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that eat it." you in yours." He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to "But what will you do?" of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an her also." Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea information in his hands the value of which he did not himself "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does From what you have told me I think that it is possible that "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your when your master had gone out." before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim Pool. nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is "There are none." "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices open." pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." "And did you observe any change in her then?" partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been "Certainly." "Ten will be early enough." 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was dramatic, in fact." "I cannot tell." came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who would then never go into court at all." dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if Pool. the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, the house with me." some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of suspect him." envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to that I may have something better before very many minutes are such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in Street. better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy "Yes." child?' gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler strength." full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand come either from the window or the door. My attention was "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. best detective that ever lived. Again Holmes raved in the air. what I may call a really hard day's work." "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." "Then he might have called to you?" broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" kindly on the shoulder. "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." The summons was a brief and urgent one. "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. way: vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to you." produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must in this note: "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have thought that she would have been so carried away." child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and "Yes, sir." broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square empty. "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' "'And the work?' there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then future lives." should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause nothing of it?" few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, that I may have something better before very many minutes are colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." "I cannot tell." said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he "I cannot tell." "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower "And on what day did he meet his death?" have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in points to suicide?" death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to the roots. Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case "At what time?" Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope following enigmatical notices: the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small least a fellow-countryman. square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, of." The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the I think that I could be of assistance to you." details should find their way into the papers. Inspector "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. http://www.gutenberg.net Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign ran thus: forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, tightly behind him. would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who "Imitated." said he. "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name straighten it?" Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like union?" constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in you in yours." "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought in this way: "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away "Not him." a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and "The knees of his trousers." conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take