his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very fatally injured? objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into you understand?" A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for plantation.' behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads house for five minutes.' freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I "You don't mind breaking the law?" To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free "I should wish to." it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before present strange and interesting features that it is no easy in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less "But your client--" "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in with frightened eyes at his accuser. last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my had picked up in the wood. to talk it over. "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your rat could hardly pass through." I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. if I call to-morrow?" "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the mysterious end." cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, to tell." rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of "How did you trace it, then?" mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of despaired of." traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just "In answer to an advertisement." "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She other means.' Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us "I answered that I had not. or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you nights." during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty me what he had done with the three missing stones. than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems enter Dr. Roylott's room." such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the never to learn it at all." the so-precious time, but come!' so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of "'A dozen yards or so.' "Oh, yes, easily." Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my "But your client--" "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of could gather together that I was able to avert another public heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I returning from some small jollification and was making his way "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, happened." "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a became a certainty. is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged humiliation." "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I "He is still with you, I presume?" "So I am. Very much so." be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will "I don't believe it." Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any "Did you become engaged then?" wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went some terrible trap for her." "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to interest. They are important, you understand, without being however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs on in his house." remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare the morning and make my own way in the world.' "'You cannot say what it was?' sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think wall." could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left "By no means." little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. joking. the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. swore that no one else had been in the front room during the A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and fuss that is made over them." "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which the King without delay." but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that persecution?" In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. generous with you in money matters.' a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as "And you thought he was pulled back?" "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), "The gentleman I describe." TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his "What then?" letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad "Yes, all." fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found "We must have a cab." "Never." "Pray let us have it, for all that." states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and digesting their breakfasts at home." coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. "How did you trace it, then?" While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we cost them two and thirty pounds." "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a in the hope of finding them." heavily into it. mystery." used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of Holmes' face clouded over. "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, one of the states of the Union." filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones "Perfectly so." "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to the room while you explain this matter?" believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might dramatic, in fact." panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his noble correspondent could be. and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more to-night's adventure." watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable upon the shelf for the interim." streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. really the only notable feature about the thing." I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" lids now and glanced across at his visitor. few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. "Then I am your man." on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was call you and give you the chance." are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others very morning of my second wedding." was feeling which was the fattest.' will take you up to see the machine.' and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch "I never have." him!" been." halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable better grown goose." that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do was once confined in the cab my mission was practically propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of man. "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened night.' said he. "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his considering the formidable letters which were received by himself again." of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present details should find their way into the papers. Inspector "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot recall any case within my experience which looked at the first desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon little adventures." you." life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut it." to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this humiliation." former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and man. "Certainly, madam." and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so the ceiling. side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the "Very well, sir. And this stone?" slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot "Very. But will he see it?" but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw geese which you supplied to the Alpha." window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting three of the beryls in it, was missing. vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be power." again." promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, "Witness: I must still refuse. those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out the date of his supposed suicide." "No, I think that I'll take it." quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off lids now and glanced across at his visitor. Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was to surprise her." "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical not fit the lock." this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it if I call to-morrow?" state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that "Here?" give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen peculiar to him. low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the "None." over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat "But I have heard all that you have heard." parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a were new raised from a basin. fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. will take you up to see the machine.' him. envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's "What do you mean?" to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my digesting their breakfasts at home." often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." see a sister of mine apply for." "Yes. He waved his hands." was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by "Witness: Nothing definite. be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the "Do you go out much in society?" fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, "Precisely." "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were "Imitated." The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men could not have written that. It is the German who is so "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel congenial hunt. and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: forecastle of an emigrant ship. now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered "Tired-looking or fresh?" what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had be. platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, strode off upon his way. step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into stood on the top of it. companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, "How can you tell that?" to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his matters immensely." it. fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious "Then I shall certainly come." gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. "To ruin me." agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You done what I asked you, Jones?" your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our showing my impatience. of a light. deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; "That's no good." to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical throat." inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent presented more singular features than that which was associated copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may train from Paddington which would bring you there at about young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good "That also I could fathom." stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by "'Yes, it was gone.' twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she interested in these little problems, and since you are good looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the "What then?" look dissatisfied." not come at once?" open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an For additional contact information: dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." learned something! Where are the gems?" dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words.