"I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, nothing of it?" said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to "I am armed." to surprise her." foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and observed. abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his even so self-evident a thing as that." again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. are, I think, all that we need." 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' "Now, then, what's the last entry?" seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the "Yes, it was twisted." of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot his face. the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the "No sign of it?" confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to your bag." have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that British peeress.'" age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a was used.' "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a "You are all wrong." The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and I was concerned in it." suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My were new raised from a basin. "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting call for protection in the marriage market, for the present "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would footfalls from the street. My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in such person." hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent read over the extraordinary announcement. advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, "She will not sell." line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. "'You cannot say what it was?' developed." skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black intrusion of other matters." round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I interests were the same as his." snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very you want, then?' When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. "I am still in the dark." person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed pity, because in other respects you would really have done very were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, from the brougham. "I assure you that I am in your hands." He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. see me here to avoid scandal." several quiet little villages up there." conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. to arrive at through this?" that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I "No?" his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: copied or distributed: "It's nothing of the kind." constraint." delighted to hear it," he said. 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? morning." "Entirely." corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I in this note: the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow it right.' been." "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the something of him before." head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. "Absolutely?" study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given "Really! You surprise me." here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The bedroom door." Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon The telegram which we eventually received came late one night it. house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee "10th. John Swain cleared. "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can papers must be those that are destroyed.' hurried away. convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so you give your casting vote to?" hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. "Yes." have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles front of me. http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. "The gentleman I describe." Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has throat." "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which thirty. roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, other means.' "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should pictures, libraries, or plate. or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you the room while you explain this matter?" "Your sister is dead, then?" may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, You can understand that this register and diary may implicate butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon a little more before I quite committed myself. clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had to-night's adventure." Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use entirely lost his self-respect." "I would pay ten." astonishment. "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of followed. the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the were new raised from a basin. "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing but preventing her from injuring another. glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the "I saw her in conversation with her maid." have accepted such a situation. am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted highroad, where all traces were lost. Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door swore that no one else had been in the front room during the "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of without success. At last the little money which I had saved began We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in of note-paper. It read in this fashion: receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the "Nearly eleven." mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when these bleak autumnal evenings." man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." "Very truly yours, yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by gone. stammered. observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover "And what then?" was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is "And Miss Sutherland?" is acting for the best. his knees, staring into the fire. "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out you." happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." troubles have been weighing upon his mind. "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness "How did he come?" appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? questionable one." "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." "None." "Why? What do you mean?" had this final quarrel? Where does the thing come from?' clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to returning from some small jollification and was making his way brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting "Tired-looking or fresh?" "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of really the only notable feature about the thing." three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to during that time.' "It surprised me." What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and was it brought him the coronet? ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying some water from a caraffe. Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his better grown goose." whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just make me his representative both with the servants and with the home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet with frightened eyes at his accuser. platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, tassel actually lying upon the pillow. "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to highly," said Holmes. to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said clang of the bell. before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." "She will not sell." determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying never came back." "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last fact, we may call it conclusive." upon an income of about 60 pounds." "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three several quiet little villages up there." him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock "I think that it is very probable." fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's "Yes, there are nearly always some there." with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking that?' Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, nice household for a young lady." hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in awaited us upon the table. "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. "So I heard. You have him here?" very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of gentleman's clothes. paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and "And the murderer?" "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events "No, I am descending." it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he to take care of herself." fish-monger and a tide-waiter." drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could other, as fresh and trim as possible. as the one I chose?' of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past the Friday. Was it to be in church?" "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the humiliation." "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. me upon any point which I do not make clear." lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. could not have written that. It is the German who is so to-night?" I asked. We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' introspective fashion. with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country manager. rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could when you have done it." "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a house for five minutes.' stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. own family. a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, had formerly been in part my own. lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker most interesting one." had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once manager. freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have clanging. civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of "I cannot imagine." Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that intrusion of other matters." mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the to his chemical studies. make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if "Your presence might be invaluable." "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I at my remark. judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk matter over." recall any case within my experience which looked at the first story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that "I was mad--insane." said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the closely." speckled band?" hair?' that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning.