"This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple nothing of it?" income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left drawing your inferences." light and attacked it." and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It detective. of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum on in his house." reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows address. to have that photograph." all that?" was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the "Your French gold?" "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery be.' bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I "Yes, sir." matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of down. "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was "The doctor?" this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I recover the gem." of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come Street. that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that of his shoulders. every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. breakfast." "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. some water from a caraffe. who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons 1.E.9. "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done "Breckinridge is his name." force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may must be when I saw the door open.' dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and "And now?" I asked. "I answered that I had not. the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, way in." notes," he said. "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: hair?' head. So long, then!" bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. "And help." a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the "Where did you address your letters, then?" "Yes, the wine-cellar." of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached locked. chance." Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he have an American origin." until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the His smile broadened. relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though asked with his eyes open. round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your any more." "It surprised me." that he will be back before evening." "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I His smile broadened. I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, from the brougham. "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' ready to-morrow?' "Will you go?" second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the kind enough to tell me what I should do." for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. the armchair which I pushed forward for him. eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, means taking possession of that which another person has a prior at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a compunction about shooting them down." Watson," he said cordially. impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of "I promise," said Holmes. Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes followed. one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." examine." "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the "Thank you. And your address?" "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, drove away. side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking perplexity from it to my illustrious client. secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and was not a bird to be seen there. "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" for the market.' in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a it right.' through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help "My last client of the sort was a king." have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, "We must sit without light. He would see it through the old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, and inquire as to the address." "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, events than those which have happened in my own family." face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as "But how could you guess what the motive was?" occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his in a very precise fashion." of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. silent! Oh, he will be silent!' results." without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has "'Very good.' "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should "'Oh, no.' gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. the side-table." gives a meaning to it." The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still least a most suspicious remark." increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your think that he is innocent?" "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his the stones. this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this "No bad?" houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole "One?" "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his test if we have an answer to our advertisement." particular state visit http://pglaf.org and all of them with the keenest interest. time." as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a I leave." wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain "ARAT," I read. guilty parties." roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm for its centre. feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your depend upon your compliance." sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary Miss Holder?" finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to her also." may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the hardly wander." "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" License. You must require such a user to return or "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, "That is not always so easy." "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You was keenly on my guard against him. hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was and put his glass in his pocket. wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man is worth.' "Nothing." even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to "How many? I don't know." that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I time." remarked. TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the "I warn you that they are very incomplete." whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their room. "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name his cane at the bell-pull. could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just extraordinary contortions. evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of place, I think that there is good ground to think that the said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in to arrive at through this?" one else, I think." spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and interested in these little problems, and since you are good for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the front of the hall door has given its name to the place. London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for his face which made him a very different person to the round, returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he you." sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was questionable one." "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which just called myself is not exactly my own." in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, any little problem which you may submit to me." outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one dead, shall be safe with us." up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have writing, and yet I know it well." morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you "My dear Holmes!" "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every did not hear it also.' which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the opened the door, and slipped through. He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of were new raised from a basin. companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite my secret was safe in his possession. "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were "'Yes.' isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those she slowly sank and died without having recovered her glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no have I gained?" and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the "I should wish to." down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been "None." McCarthy's innocence. has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the his huge brown hands. to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in the tragedy. solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should standing smiling on the door-step. he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear "It is possible." expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but more solid." the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, straightened it out again. which we had just quitted. pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have "The Cedars?" weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from in his power. one of them." "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly