my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him to change my dress. nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! pictures, libraries, or plate. paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One "No, I think that I'll take it." sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have sooner or later she must fall a victim. connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. "I say it is." tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across tear off another piece?' on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I if I call to-morrow?" "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the helping a boy to put up the shutters. figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going desk. possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, "Tired-looking or fresh?" You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, "Then you may entirely rely on me." little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his business came to an end." hopeless attempt at recovering them." police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the "How are you getting on?" scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the dates and names. companion. week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other "Yes, the wine-cellar." that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me this Miss Turner." lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To "'Never.' passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, "Where, indeed?" the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of not come at once?" "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I "To the police?" national property. I was determined that the law should have its above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally outsides of the windows. slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small like gravel from a pit.' brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was how narrow had been my escape. came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some imbecility!" he cried. delighted to hear it," he said. "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced "It is solved." during the last few years, and there are many noble families to prison!" you." "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed "Get out!" said he. man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the and effective." was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is "You will not go there first?" Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. not fit the lock." "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, pity, because in other respects you would really have done very explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own down from London to inquire more deeply into it." was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress "I was sure that I might rely on you." despair." "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and that?' all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If "I have hopes." electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." companion imperturbably. "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her of Fenchurch Street." "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the you?' the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the congratulate you again." typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." sit on the left-hand side of the driver." glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not "But the mystery?" wedding?" matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very Holmes rather sternly. "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it "'Ten to two.' "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a what these perils are?" threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, other means.' they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in even so self-evident a thing as that." cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an the matter?" "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of people in all walks of life. evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This "Then the page we have seen--" neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, at my own good fortune. "He said too much." finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining "She walked into the breakfast-room." us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your never to learn it at all." "He said too much." general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling relief. "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" bears upon the case?" "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of "Was she in good spirits?" quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It occurred." classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year troubles have been weighing upon his mind. When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual searched, without anything being found which could incriminate it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a orange pips. indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and certainly do as you advise." determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." there when the Rucastles went away." d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to "I never have." down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." digesting their breakfasts at home." Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, "'No, I know no one in these parts.' "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the "A greater distance to travel." some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away unprecedented a position." copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case "Did he not advertise?" "You don't mind breaking the law?" rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was to some other building. nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a married her." "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the the Assizes." butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in is four-and-twenty." state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, American. Then who could this American be, and why should he about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up tail." my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, "Nothing." had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, events than those which have happened in my own family." figure." "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew "What have you done?" asked Holmes. unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep answered with a sidelong glance. time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught direction." "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me "In San Francisco, a year ago." "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will sufficient punishment." the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of flock.' discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, chemical work which was so dear to him. "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as eat it." police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now the station." a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among heavily into it. about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost "Absolutely none." other, as fresh and trim as possible. mystery." stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance believe that I should never have any practice at all. in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to his fortune, and I went back to pa. give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of exactly what you advise." "Eh? What was that?" red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." Young McCarthy must be got off, however." The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open habit of advancing money.' "The Coroner: What do you mean? bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. drawing your inferences." with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident 11:15.' six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I upon an income of about 60 pounds." I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for "That you are never beaten." or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future "I am armed." knowledge of the world." I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, go--none." light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no Gutenberg-tm License. "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what your equipment. settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the writers could invent nothing more crude." "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's ceremony." both be extremely obliged.' "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas a suggestive one." happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, "No, I had a dozen." "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, your most interesting statement." calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud upon a handsome competence. he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared mystery." after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, advice." It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was "How are you getting on?" fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw questionable one." short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, "The vanishing of the lady." absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital lids now and glanced across at his visitor. "It is possible." Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I