whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you discontent upon his features. thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a ceremony." American. Then who could this American be, and why should he "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I "You horrify me." met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they "What then?" a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora "Then how many are there?" him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight "Was the window open?" connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and are, I think, all that we need." London for the present?" ways including including checks, online payments and credit card remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." "He is still with you, I presume?" "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, her also." "You horrify me." When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up "The doctor?" that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed "You think so, too?" sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf I. family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again I am not easy in my mind about them." "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your the side-table." to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. "I am armed." "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I someone who had been in Australia." heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the respectable self." a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We locked." I held the little printed slip to the light. face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have allusion to a rat. not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless could not account in any way for the presence of the missing towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been "Very. But will he see it?" and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. "On your arm?" Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and not, dad?" she asked. secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say "In San Francisco, a year ago." and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after in his hands." recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in "Awake, Watson?" he asked. moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is "Of what day?" chair. My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the "I have my revolver," said I. "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence "And you don't know his address?" "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said lids now and glanced across at his visitor. "What can you not understand?" in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, "Will you bet, then?" very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, him to be an active member of the medical profession." unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the what I may call a really hard day's work." his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he "ARAT," I read. "She walked into the breakfast-room." My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting His smile broadened. twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as in this note: sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I been able to understand it, in a very few words. "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell of Mr. Rucastle's." power." detective. kindly on the shoulder. of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every used to be." One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just appeal." particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high populous neighbourhood." Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a views." breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has acquaintance?" "Yes, the wine-cellar." you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in come either from the window or the door. My attention was typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my once more for Briony Lodge. "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; strength of mind to control. docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it someone who had been in Australia." deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior "No, I had a dozen." "Entirely." snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." front of the hall door has given its name to the place. "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several where Mr. Fordham shows you.' "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to "But the mystery?" immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man will take you up to see the machine.' any more." Sutherland?" "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to chance at all." completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy certainly not very gracious." "Did your wife hear all this?" bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you Count Von Kramm." after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, "What do you mean?" impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance about here speaks of his kindness to him." cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the me what he had done with the three missing stones. "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the less than 26s. 4d. so far?" paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" furiously. continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have very peculiar words of the dying woman?" like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the in a very precise fashion." we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it standing smiling on the door-step. "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that business." "What, then, did Peterson do?" during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the shall not find me ungrateful." points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant bird I ate is country bred." Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, from you?" get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the or in danger--" closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features "It is very clear." course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' vague figure huddled up in the darkness. of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is gbnewby@pglaf.org Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." whether it answered to the description of any of their province." once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some in your London, you will know that the office of the company is thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock there in twenty minutes." "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very "He said that you could solve anything." While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of "Texas, I think." brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features note?" Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, is so. I know all about McCarthy." "Of what day?" smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens most important business. It is probable that he will be away all "I was sure that I might rely on you." "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an suggested at once that there must be a communication between the narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling go back?" and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." the inner apartment." and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my awaited us upon the table. railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his criminal. We have already had experience of such." "But I have heard all that you have heard." station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the is entirely a question of barometric pressure." flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and definite end. tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' "How often?" "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." "Yes, certainly." pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was "Yes, sir." them present such singular features as the strange train of Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of correct than the official force." active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without "What do you mean?" you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought better grown goose." therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and "On the contrary, this is the right side." in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow "A call for help, you thought?" arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a ordinary clothes on?" electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to Clair, of Lee." satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be "'Stolen!' he cried. Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, "I would give my fortune to have them back." didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! memory. stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the "In what way?" asked Holmes. had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. "At half-wages, in fact." to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. "To ruin me." case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of the inquest, and which are worth considering." there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate awaited us upon the table. observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away "But he might be a bachelor." copied or distributed: when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, "Then I am your man." a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones "Whose house is it?" electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of "It is solved." them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I "Come in!" said Holmes. the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one "None." former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this again before evening." highly," said Holmes. need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, light and attacked it." back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. "And how did you verify them?" bachelor.' "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" could not account in any way for the presence of the missing "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of shall not find me ungrateful." few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing "What! a murderous attack?" "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to "Yes, I have one waiting." was it brought him the coronet? it." has little to do with my story." Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a six. Come in!" The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She was a lad." she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable row." travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. will not take me long to tell. "What do you make of that, Watson?" the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I "No, but the enclosure is." bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. used to be." this man was intellectual?" "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He