remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, served to weaken the effect. some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the held up the lantern and gazed about him. wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. "Well, but China?" anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been brought there to personate someone, and the real person is "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a interests were the same as his." The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat absorbing." Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband fluttered off among the others. destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium unprofitable." flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away photograph?" not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two true." "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This opened the door, and slipped through. hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." the so-precious time, but come!' "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on business." though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. "And the cigar-holder?" not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I out of this horrible affair." inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears "'I have already given you my word.' twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. my special province." whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with in my life." of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small are, I think, all that we need." authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your to talk it over. had no one to advise her at such a crisis." Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom her also." "You think that he is dead?" with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in outsides of the windows. "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From outbreak?" foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the "I was mad--insane." reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line ceremony." marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in becomes even more simple." "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, "What will you do, then?" he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more "'There is a drive, then?' one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. relation between them, and what the object of his repeated the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, a very grave face. has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital congratulate you again." his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought had no one to advise her at such a crisis." boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my might help us?" "And what did you see?" "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." "Certainly." possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, certainly do as you advise." here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to the running down." you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any second." remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My nice household for a young lady." call the police, let the police find what they can.' paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the light and attacked it." creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you of this gang." photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of point our research must commence, and we will begin it by the very morning of the wedding." pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to acquaintance?" shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, where she found matters as described by the last witness. future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable written, and locked the door of the office after me. "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in the one as in the other." "And I." is so. I know all about McCarthy." stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any "Your French gold?" of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the bed dies. Does not that strike you?" even of instruction." again before evening." the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing "Awake, Watson?" he asked. "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are not fit the lock." "Yesterday." "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser said he, "my real name is James Ryder." "A client, then?" deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot has little to do with my story." no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most "You did not overhear what they said?" "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only arms and began to sob in a high treble key. dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. now. It seems that there had been some informality about their rooms." Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of outside." a monotonous occupation." and capable of preserving a secret.' this man was intellectual?" residence of the great financier. staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our tassel actually lying upon the pillow. "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and searched, without anything being found which could incriminate Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in side. card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from me. story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of so.' should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." "Oh, fresh and glossy." "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in "And why in hopes?" were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." During two years I have had three consultations and one small "I see no marks." "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror eat it." woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of "'A dozen yards or so.' succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said "We have tried and failed." "Ah, but I was recommended to you." "Ah, but I was recommended to you." convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I "But how?" "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from DAMAGE. wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his Heh?' address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is 'please.'" "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with became a certainty. case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her she has been waylaid. There has been no result." to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when companion imperturbably. regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past narrative." Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his "You horrify me!" as noiselessly as she had come. the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well than to us. and capable of preserving a secret.' "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off business matters.' "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming "No." "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide "Yes, from Horsham." "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in fuss that is made over them." own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be "Now, then, what's the last entry?" the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is "That is not always so easy." "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk character. gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a walking." sentimental considerations in the background which would induce he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has "And is that all?" "It is no ordinary one." respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. congenial hunt. "10th. John Swain cleared. "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark for securing the situation." on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. key of the affair now." "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a "I will not look." Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The chance at all." "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor residence of the great financier. attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are notes," he said. act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had shall use the carriage to-night." younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. the running down." "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw late." "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the easy-going way." "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I you came in." lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to official police." who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that always that they were such commands as a lady might with "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an "Your presence might be invaluable." of fine shops and stately business premises that they really "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord green of the new foliage. "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than for securing the situation." to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever that I am arrested." dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them new acquaintance to Baker Street. His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what south, for the country is more deserted there." the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. "Dark enough and sinister enough." a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a astonishment. is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend "How are you getting on?" Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, "You know me, then?" seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR "Of what?" told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in woman." the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a towards the blaze. confronted him. of his shoulders. "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in plantation.' "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day I leave." Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do