order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. "It is very kind of you." them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, "And why?" her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small "Nearly eleven." At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than system of imprisonment?" Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a arrangements." the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a the date of his supposed suicide." away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned families. Now for the facts. again." astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is "But she will refuse." "I saw her in conversation with her maid." chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which "Were they all fastened this morning?" trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt lumber-room." works. he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." correct than the official force." few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I photograph?" first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. will find little credit to be gained out of this case." "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been "You think that he is dead?" "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot "We have tried and failed." "I shall most certainly do so." dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel himself to tell his story. 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing better in every way that they should make their position a little Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest seven miles from Eyford Station.' unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe three fields round his house, and there he would take his deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, "I would give my fortune to have them back." exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he Arthur Conan Doyle I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and power." letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your lips." humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling noting anything else of interest. photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. which was all perfectly true. still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a ourselves in the office." you in your example." between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice question," said Holmes, smiling. Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." or other trace. But how on earth--" Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded other lovers by making love himself." that, and I came down." with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous "'Yes, sir.' The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone meant." it right.' "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." weary and pale-looking. "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. for securing the situation." 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right Eyford at 11:15.' number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at "You saw the ventilator, too?" "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of as he remarks, very much against the son." Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own nice household for a young lady." Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like detective. closely." first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing "Was there a secret marriage?" Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. "What! Had he lost his wife?" prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was conclusions. more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have easy-going way." suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot "Come in!" said Holmes. dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you perplexity from it to my illustrious client. I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and "A call for help, you thought?" nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my assist you in forming an opinion." 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an little trying to do so much typewriting?" fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by it." "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, to a more successful conclusion." "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most amused." the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the forbidden door. sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me visitors." "And I to find an enemy." "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." "Certainly." - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end neither fascinating nor artistic." silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon against a man in the prime of life?" "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of The telegram which we eventually received came late one night finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary dramatic, in fact." "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should rose-bushes. sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address possible that we could bring him back to her? presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the in. "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of always that they were such commands as a lady might with "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the nothing of it?" that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and down. outside." hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. if only as a check to my own memory." gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. the very morning of the wedding." "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look wedding?" The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering "My private note-paper." American. Then who could this American be, and why should he change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham "Pray do so." seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for IS kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my are, and they are waiting for us." "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in drove away. "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE the inner apartment." the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. copied or distributed: "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor as this. Pray let me have the details." Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. "I saw her in conversation with her maid." "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as into the room. my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of "What office?" It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his "Only as much as we can deduce." estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but "Now, then, what's the last entry?" "My photograph." became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have sneer upon his pale face. "Why? What do you mean?" standing smiling on the door-step. "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, is," said he presently: for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" I am not easy in my mind about them." follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was look upon these things in a different way." threw himself down with his face to the pillow. "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, once more to my work. Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would purpose of examination. he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." "Texas, I think." 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I father's place of business?" and it need not interfere very much with one's other him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face "Did you observe the colour?" But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship front of me. how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. "Yes." It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began such attractions and accomplishments?' a suggestive one." Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which frequently gained my first real insight into the character of in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My already been minutely examined." maiden herself was most instructive." an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, "But I have heard all that you have heard." wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." there were one or two details which were new to me. But the heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know "That is it on the dressing-table." herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic IS charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of "'Is purely nominal.' sake, don't!" "But you were on a friendly footing?" "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning "May I see it?" hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a breakfast and whispered something to her husband. little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was away in different directions, and I went off to make my own "I will get her to show me." Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very are, I think, all that we need." "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is photograph a cabinet?" with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm "Pray let us have it, for all that." "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever the armchair which I pushed forward for him. Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved breakfast?" "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that "The best possible." here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet "And who is her maid?" "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad could not account in any way for the presence of the missing While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing directly by questioning you." permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with "Your presence might be invaluable." a monotonous occupation." endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other "Ah!" Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his "And why in hopes?" "No legal papers or certificates?" that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at residence of the great financier. search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean Again Holmes raved in the air. homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most sooner or later she must fall a victim. them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely "Oh, fresh and glossy." dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man.