his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had "I will try. What is it?" "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your Pool. "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper handed it to him. responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the colonel looking down at me. "What can it mean?" I gasped. the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too you." have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about appeared upon the scene." copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil "Precisely so. But how--" yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever "Will you go?" me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my "I assure you that I am in your hands." to have that photograph." your billet.' but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with "Where did you address your letters, then?" frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the to talk it over. have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would and it need not interfere very much with one's other the address that was given us in the advertisement. serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the little adventures." "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and unprofitable." Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case "How do you know, then?" before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my "About a month then." round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with in one or two places in England?' conclusions. hour." "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes of his shoulders. overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men helping a boy to put up the shutters. "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of "I am to be neutral?" glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge but preventing her from injuring another. shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him she might be summoned. life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to occurred." Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I your own bird, so if you wish--" was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. of Mr. Rucastle's." round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of "Nothing?" were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and "How can you tell that?" Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences "I have come for advice." conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a "Perhaps I have." Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." "Then, as to money?" music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon "What office?" have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into breakfast and whispered something to her husband. King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his was once confined in the cab my mission was practically nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my "You have a clue?" spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." tell them apart.' of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it the very morning of the wedding." "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle 'please.'" "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some it. side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." villagers almost as much as their master. unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really "My stepfather's business papers." what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the "My photograph." golden eyeglasses. down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't married her." "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." compunction about shooting them down." George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in mystery." back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at like that before?" connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out which are rolled in Rotterdam." smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement "Married! When?" the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, were new raised from a basin. having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms formed some opinion?" "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of key turn in the lock." the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my "I was certainly surprised to find you there." "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, "Whose house is it?" years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in remarked. flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as "Certainly." black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. "Ample." his fortune, and I went back to pa. "Well, it is a possible supposition." "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" was it brought him the coronet? that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. Foundation golden eyeglasses. "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." "In heaven's name, what for?" "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project lips." miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that "One of his hands." "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee "You don't mind breaking the law?" present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the some place of shelter and let the county police know what has subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed "Your presence might be invaluable." "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note status with the IRS. "Texas, I think." cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over "Never to return." same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal wall." accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to then?" "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the six. Come in!" furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is "Nearly eleven." will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here wedding?" "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may "The King of Scandinavia." reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story photograph?" away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the "You have carte blanche." came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek "It came here." about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment DAMAGE. "Yes, there are nearly always some there." and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I "You think that he is dead?" have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and woven round him. people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be dead, shall be safe with us." with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry you in your example." breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, not come at once?" he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting Does that suggest anything?" within hail.' cigar and let me expound." "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the noble correspondent could be. "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a "Yes, the wine-cellar." of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here enter Dr. Roylott's room." door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not and wait." Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say round and wave him away like that.' jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like is worth.' with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat "One?" "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an "'Tell me all about it,' said I. "We have tried and failed." obstinate." "How did you deduce the select?" to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly "Were they all fastened this morning?" again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could seen the man in the road." respectable self." home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small "But his left-handedness." the bed, and you in that chair." was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of these bleak autumnal evenings." "None." works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood money should be paid at once.' would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared young Openshaw's." feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. chance at all." insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay "What, then, did Peterson do?" in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm photograph?" distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly such attractions and accomplishments?' "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence things are very often connected not with the larger but with the relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." "Nor running a chance of arrest?" in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it derbies." "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax which it had come upon my father." glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and any more." "I should be immensely obliged to you." space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. is acting for the best. "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and charge against him will break down." "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven long narrative. scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now learned something! Where are the gems?" green of the new foliage. vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to should be taken.' The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." wedding?" test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each your co-operation."