"'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have relief. your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project events, Mr. Windibank!" her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was "'Never.' knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of "Eh? What was that?" "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the over part of the map. "What do you read?" discontent upon his features. "No legal papers or certificates?" indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to not within a twentieth part of the market price." with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than asked. sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he "Bought." "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' arrangements." to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are "Was he the only applicant?" tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped outside. set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which "On Monday." civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. the very morning of the wedding." Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure future lives." the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his "What have you done?" asked Holmes. my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is copied or distributed: eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the sneer upon his pale face. already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a thought that she would have been so carried away." son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would congenial hunt. Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so Surrey." gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who walking." adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the written. the loss of it. all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no "Very truly yours, dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" will find little credit to be gained out of this case." settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and "Certainly." and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets when your master had gone out." green of the new foliage. Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes there were so many in the whole country as were brought together meant it for the best. known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted like that before?" with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any as this. Pray let me have the details." "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to over part of the map. "What do you read?" understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, man. "'And the work?' about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from it right.' There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where "'A dozen yards or so.' should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window notes," he said. could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view useful material for showing traces. The double line a little it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up "Ha! you find it so?" "You are certainly joking, Holmes." as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every house for five minutes.' "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the "Which are?" Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his see a sister of mine apply for." sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This to-night?' there when the Rucastles went away." was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of "Yes, there are nearly always some there." ourselves in the office." "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw "On your arm?" "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek lumber-room." "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what "Pray do so." read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that foresight and the moral retrogression?" "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' only touch the interest." everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is "Did he not advertise?" believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call woven round him. is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm hopeless attempt at recovering them." To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. peculiar to him. which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who ways of our fellow-men." understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see I took the paper from him and read as follows: on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and sofa. This way, please!" "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a is," said he presently: every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my politicians who had been sent down from the North. place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking "I am still in the dark." grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any simple cases which are so extremely difficult." beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' you want, then?' matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us "Well, but China?" imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" status with the IRS. away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." astonishment. "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, all that?" keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. locked. found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been me what he had done with the three missing stones. can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical were wasted." suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in was keenly on my guard against him. He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if "And I to find an enemy." protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, you understand?" body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. province." themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. was the fact that his father should, according to his account, I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, main points of my analysis." hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, considering the formidable letters which were received by himself stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. Foundation "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first "I beg pardon." But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching "Was the window open?" by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a fait accompli?" "Proceed, then." the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the to a light-house. education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it ventilator." his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass matter over." Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he make me his representative both with the servants and with the was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia empty. "An accident, I presume?" that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. What do you deduce from it?" there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. "I am armed." "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on Dr. Gregory B. Newby written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you searched, without anything being found which could incriminate "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous married her." silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most already been minutely examined." "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the during the last few years, and there are many noble families to look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring returned to France?" "You don't mind breaking the law?" and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting "Nearly eleven." "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed "We must sit without light. He would see it through the "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was may never be exposed to such a temptation." with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," me, and I could not think that his explanation of the silent! Oh, he will be silent!' "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." there were so many in the whole country as were brought together go from here to the Strand." "You horrify me!" despaired of." professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just said I. "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be important." "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in "Witness: It was. doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their "And I say east," said my patient. hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. all?" presume?" "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant "I should like to see him very much." we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder conduct the inquiry." ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the the driver. "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and the very letters. But what is this written above them?' and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can that I am arrested." villagers almost as much as their master. hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On "I beg pardon." "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and "I have hopes." as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, more terrible than the truth. "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in congratulate you again." The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we an introduction to him?" "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and Leadenhall Street--and--" "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil yet." was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to washing it down with a long draught of water. ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss our word." acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this father's young wife. day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford Have you good authority for what you say?" spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or "And why in hopes?" Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger one's self under obligations.' you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked you?" seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the "But what is it you wish?" thin, with a long, sharp nose?" yourselves in at night?" which was all perfectly true. "I shall most certainly do so." where she found matters as described by the last witness. smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I "Witness: I must still refuse. "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for "On your arm?" had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' "'I am sure if I had known--' Young McCarthy must be got off, however." rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak country, and eventually married, without anyone having a go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage I was concerned in it." "Thank you. And your address?" "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, conceal it?" been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had look upon these things in a different way." authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." "But she will refuse." Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the Sholtos." "What of the rat, then?" for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three way in everything. submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary thirty. years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a awkward doing business with an alias." "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." "We were both in the photograph." afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." laugh and put his lips to my ear. "We must have a cab." It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert "Frankly, then, madam, I do not."