words came to my lips. only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, national property. I was determined that the law should have its alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance "I have hopes." gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and The summons was a brief and urgent one. the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just about here speaks of his kindness to him." gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets get her out of the way." Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss I took the paper from him and read as follows: importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be companion imperturbably. face and glided from the room. "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. "Then you may be so with me." reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, less than 26s. 4d. "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. "I think it very unlikely." Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the "Then the page we have seen--" There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better one which it was hard to resist. asked. "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as ordinary clothes on?" "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, was used.' stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously "You saw the ventilator, too?" There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a have not had my rubber." "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either the Friday. Was it to be in church?" building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" about here speaks of his kindness to him." had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold because she had spent so short a time in this country that she weary and pale-looking. "I am to be neutral?" dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. papers must be those that are destroyed.' as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just completely overtopped every other consideration that we both "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were back into the street. "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little spare." him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End you?" Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against know that the truth is known." "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." became a certainty. "Here?" has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, brain must have something in it." send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a "Was your sister dressed?" sneer upon his pale face. shoulder. impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." "At half-wages, in fact." conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my way in." voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he indeed happy." inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. things are very often connected not with the larger but with the tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, shall not find me ungrateful." however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is daring than any effort of the imagination." a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of might have a private word with us. "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the been able to understand it, in a very few words. burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his "Yes, there are nearly always some there." and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. signal between you and your father? conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, DISSOLVED. filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole knowledge of the world." quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you "And you can do nothing until then?" Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. arms and began to sob in a high treble key. more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel directors, with the result that you have seen." a room. "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his the running down." were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's there were one or two details which were new to me. But the The police have openly confessed that they can at present make along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss "What will you do, then?" very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in "What shall I do?" my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke quick march!" erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every an introduction to him?" "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon "So I heard. You have him here?" gone. enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could this poor creature." "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case be there in time for your coming." crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. "An enemy?" overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get "Look there!" said he. one's self under obligations.' pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as "It is possible." "How long did she speak to this Alice?" But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become and your relations to her." I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the had picked up in the wood. at once, for I have only half an hour." any little problem which you may submit to me." docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it a very grave face. time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as "What, then?" probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the vague figure huddled up in the darkness. undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. "Witness: It was. Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy I was concerned in it." granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. What do you deduce from it?" paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every stood on the top of it. shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, "Why did you pick him?" Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of "That's no good." "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and to Leatherhead. got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me "Proceed, then." "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was For additional contact information: "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their distinguish the words: "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced relation between them, and what the object of his repeated "But you were on a friendly footing?" the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. "Holmes, the busybody!" "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for entirely devoid of interest." enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. very morning of my second wedding." states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful that "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can "I guessed as much." exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I you?" "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and I was concerned in it." Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." daring than any effort of the imagination." second window is the one that I jumped from." "I was certainly surprised to find you there." visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how "It must be recovered." I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, "That is unusual in a young girl." at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose purpose of examination. How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would because she had spent so short a time in this country that she morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For garden below. his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well brain must have something in it." "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a giving me time to thank him. some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many "Get out!" said he. "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." get her out of the way." upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, at once, for I have only half an hour." side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." said I. perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall foot. devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting is a common subject for conversation. A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." to change my dress. are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are a good hundred miles off by now." the address that was given us in the advertisement. "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, "Yes?" preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I a monotonous occupation." she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting forbidden door. the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the one of them." peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may not interfere, come what may. You understand?" "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled you?" "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and "And you don't know his address?" "Yes, certainly." once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I me." as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his to have been novel and of interest." houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to "One of the highest in England." breakfast?" "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down up this clue while it is still hot." which I could not give. He asked for Alice. blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me "What do you make of that, Watson?" late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a "I cannot imagine." he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of most interesting one." such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in little trying to do so much typewriting?" the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to his fortune, and I went back to pa. panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed "But I am all in the dark." stood on the top of it. "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men Edgeware Road. and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional entirely lost his self-respect." out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. conclusions. "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking