I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and Farm upon the left." accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable down from London to inquire more deeply into it." plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and "Now, then, what's the last entry?" And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" attention." this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united "Then the page we have seen--" would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some "He is dead," cried several voices. sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a fish-monger and a tide-waiter." "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only "On the contrary, this is the right side." "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow "Yes." process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and pictures, libraries, or plate. written, and locked the door of the office after me. "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper persecution?" - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any is entirely a question of barometric pressure." wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. rat could hardly pass through." hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet it means?" arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an made his money." "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the "I warn you that they are very incomplete." "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when window when the police appeared." It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' Surrey." 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found ashen face. conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for It was close upon four before the door opened, and a with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive his eyes and forehead. to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. round with crates and massive boxes. Eyford at 11:15.' face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal "He is still with you, I presume?" headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. strong reason behind." slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! "Where, then, is my wife?" Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the "Yes, only one." brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to "'Very good.' "'A dozen yards or so.' constraint." "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as "His face fell immediately. opened the door, and slipped through. for its centre. the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand money should be paid at once.' had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about tail." you." directors, with the result that you have seen." down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham "I promise," said Holmes. clang of the bell. "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who It was close upon four before the door opened, and a very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." "You forget that I know nothing about it." explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank at once, for I have only half an hour." I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed "Bought." which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always only touch the interest." the general public were present, then?" impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had everything which you would wish to know." silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he "That sounds a little paradoxical." reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." and wait." after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the wedding?" My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the despair." than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be direction." corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a children over to America with him, so that I found myself without "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a "'Where could I find him?' I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and she to prove their authenticity?" this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment you found me to-night--and running through the front room she someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the Serpentine Avenue. consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, down in his armchair and closing his eyes. me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying your co-operation." "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to "That is not always so easy." what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" III. interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he unclasping of his long thin hands. should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as "An accident, I presume?" towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was Mrs. Toller serenely. "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and as noiselessly as she had come. "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" she slowly sank and died without having recovered her Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side appeared upon the scene." Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us that I am arrested." little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," over his head with a sweet womanly caress. and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The ways of our fellow-men." explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop very morning of my second wedding." shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not again, where I was soon asleep. Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, you in your example." it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her during the last few years, and there are many noble families to shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are "In San Francisco, a year ago." advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should pound a week." your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment long narrative. Street. I shall continue with my miserable story. be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but "Absolutely none." down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled your troubles." In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and tied." completely overtopped every other consideration that we both could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of "It is a murder, then?" "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the everything which you would wish to know." door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. "Do you know him?" all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over colonel looking down at me. very peculiar words of the dying woman?" undoubtedly my uncle's." think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the on in his house." aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he coroner's jury." fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting better grown goose." "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist happened." wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." what I may call a really hard day's work." "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their bare slabs of marble. "ARAT," I read. "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and electronic works hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to "How many? I don't know." telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one place no limit on the sum I may draw." "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient "We have tried and failed." the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" dramatic, in fact." "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have shag which I had seen upon the previous night. "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the since then to throw any light upon what became of him." lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your "'No, I know no one in these parts.' "Yes, from Horsham." savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, Gutenberg-tm License. when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 any more." was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in had this final quarrel? "About a month then." happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. 'I should be able to look after that for you.' relation between them, and what the object of his repeated have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it the date of his supposed suicide." in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" "How did you deduce the select?" "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a asked with his eyes open. brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke lost his Christmas dinner." something of him before." "I know where it is." train.' said he. "And now?" He raised his hand. stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was companion. going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived "And what did you see?" the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" not personally threatened." in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, imbecility!" he cried. was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a "To an end?" He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of think, you have already met." it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some "Certainly." the Red-headed League." Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too "Yes." said he. greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. to have been novel and of interest." "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." some terrible trap for her." "I am all attention, madam." the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of "Now, then, what's the last entry?" sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled acted in my house last night?" and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young with frightened eyes at his accuser. with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others his grey eyes. ways including including checks, online payments and credit card "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, now. It seems that there had been some informality about their "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the arrangements." "Is he quiet?" course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." weighed down with some great anxiety. the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who is a common subject for conversation. Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his "'Entirely.' The telegram which we eventually received came late one night empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to dramatic, in fact." with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and the bottom.' had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried