"Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward into the bag, and made for the door. alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed "No." green of the new foliage. absorbing." passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled appeal." "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very "Very truly yours, air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, nonsense.' of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of companion quietly. right! Sit down and let us talk it over." large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no during the last few years, and there are many noble families to him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" where we are going." upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the digesting their breakfasts at home." To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. back alive. to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I you." part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. the best of training." It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his memory. that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though McCarthy's innocence. "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had "Won't it ring?" panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." never came back." the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." help us in this matter." bonnet, and went out." "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his "'You doubt its value?' he asked. upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped "Yes, at the mines." "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The read it out to me." "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott 11:15.' "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the retorted upon me, and I on you." "I cannot think." going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all washing it down with a long draught of water. permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting that he will be back before evening." eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, chemical work which was so dear to him. would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that "You know me, then?" direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could "And it is--" compunction about shooting them down." some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, if she died from some sudden fright." which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of "Well, it is a possible supposition." body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any she to prove their authenticity?" from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without pictures, libraries, or plate. "My own seal." secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord "May I see it?" Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw "You are hungry," I remarked. Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. "Texas, I think." While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about know what is wrong with it.' exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature "How can you tell that?" there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and amused." you?' comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience miles off. toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful of note-paper. It read in this fashion: his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and test if we have an answer to our advertisement." money should be paid at once.' again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east are windows in it, of course?" front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an "'And the work?' "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it Pope's Court. the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of strong reason behind." crackling voice. A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. "Then, as to money?" whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should you came in." air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on promised to bring home. I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." "What steps will you take?" I asked. cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go closing the door. prepare for the new role I have to play." enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. "But you have hopes?" of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to his wife has ceased to love him." "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his wedding?" roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, "He slept on the premises." headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind know what is wrong with it.' girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as tassel actually lying upon the pillow. of note-paper. It read in this fashion: you." from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." know all about it," he snarled. "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." Sutherland. "Ah, but I was recommended to you." clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the your only hope of safety." and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a comes from the middle window." fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, gone. for its centre. who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. such attractions and accomplishments?' '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely when your master had gone out." main points of my analysis." A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which papers on the sundial.'" about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of My friend smiled. fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall "My opinion is in no way altered." vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this to tackle the facts." to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so likely to be some crony of the landlady's." over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' name is different." were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon tell them apart.' lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook "Not in a good cause." my little problems." "Precisely so. But how--" nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." "Entirely." "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called not come at once?" "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the "But she will refuse." with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the cheerful." the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. "You have compromised yourself seriously." set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms "No." he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, "Come in!" said he. the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He o'clock is it?" great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to place of silver." "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, carpenter." My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. "Which are?" with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic should be taken.' "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't "Do you know him?" "Was she in good spirits?" vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the weighed down with some great anxiety. slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see "Pray let us have it, for all that." before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes foot. his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The "What! a murderous attack?" former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was at a side door. "None." call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I yourselves in at night?" "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" Mrs. Toller serenely. from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to "Indeed! Whose, then?" fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the out." inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible "The gentleman I describe." "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my and laid it on the table. "No bad?" him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the fatally injured? you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over the south-west, I see." are, and they are waiting for us." "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their some place of shelter and let the county police know what has the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in footfalls from the street. chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think "'What are you doing there?' he asked. the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of "An accident, I presume?" dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the "'Is 4 pounds a week.' "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white and your relations to her." is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my opened the door, and slipped through. "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after assist you in forming an opinion." "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was business at Coburg Square is serious." "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of whereabouts. galvanised. and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until Holmes rather sternly. chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his papers diligently of late, have you not?" "Not social, then?" unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the "Entirely." we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole is entirely a question of barometric pressure." him nearly every evening." the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the to his chemical studies. the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to "Yes, there are nearly always some there." occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that "I have solved it." married her." that the gas is not laid on in his house?" "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of will find little credit to be gained out of this case." in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than some mystery and the punishment of some crime." you?" "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide "None." not within a twentieth part of the market price." a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their Mrs. Toller serenely. "But how did you gain them?" The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your possible that we could bring him back to her? Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me me, and I could not think that his explanation of the coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off Henry Baker is a member." appeared upon the scene." English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss and no precautions can guard against." harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I some city in a dream. vault. carpenter." horse could go." neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special his face which made him a very different person to the round, think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, Cross for the Continent." where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very certainly do as you advise." shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** Edgeware Road. was a lad." transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. have got?" The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He "I do." "My dear Holmes!" either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: