it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty "In the cells." "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case "That is not always so easy." springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and imbecility!" he cried. best detective that ever lived. "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one the armchair which I pushed forward for him. "I am armed." it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. the one as in the other." the warnings." I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand you?" may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, had died away into the silence from which it rose. business at Coburg Square is serious." And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the "'What would be the hours?' I asked. Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office "She will not sell." arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is hard-headed British jury." the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and himself to hunt down. Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there the roots. protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat drawing your inferences." threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to "She will not sell." and the church but not where the lady lived." "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of you found me to-night--and running through the front room she "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded when you have done it." "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is "It surprised me." mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge main points of my analysis." a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from "You forget that I know nothing about it." don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I the matter?" since then to throw any light upon what became of him." so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we "And is that all?" clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white most interesting one." bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him our word." I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. keep the flames under. be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging directors have had misgivings upon the subject." saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, "Not him." walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat maid will bring up your coffee." Street. our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and the window, rose as we entered. "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with "I say it is." face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project whether it answered to the description of any of their permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered "He is still with you, I presume?" of fine shops and stately business premises that they really very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and "I guessed as much." destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I undoubtedly my uncle's." resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at "Yes, certainly." Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late "But how?" "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself kindly on the shoulder. exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." "At the wedding breakfast." by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for relief. his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. "Of Friday, June 19th." "Then, how do you know?" became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning thought that she would have been so carried away." in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any "You have it, sir, just as it happened." away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at "Yes, but only for you and me." twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." but preventing her from injuring another. effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue not as remarkable as your advertisement." "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have woman who has had her own way to make in the world. and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you and laid it on the table. My friend smiled. man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the Munro.' before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and not personally threatened." "'In my own bureau.' initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply go from here to the Strand." were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again excitement. however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with hurried by. uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door direction." three fields round his house, and there he would take his she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very "No, I am descending." America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by "Entirely." more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to "But how will you look?" to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's "I will not look." But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net "It is possible." time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by awkward doing business with an alias." "I have come for advice." he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the "You were travelling in the States?" seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his me have 200 pounds?' looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a "It is to him that this trophy belongs." vault. "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. "You'll never persuade me to believe that." "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by she slowly sank and died without having recovered her madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an woven round him. or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a "You horrify me!" and looked back. autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he following enigmatical notices: rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving strength of mind to control. "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the ordinary clothes on?" sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the "And how did he make his money?" in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of Arthur Conan Doyle "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I "I fear not." note?" thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little "'Quite sure, dad.' "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" "At what time?" The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down "Married! When?" "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. as yours." presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City shall not find me ungrateful." stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. breakfast." and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of of it with the greatest attention. consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly *** START: FULL LICENSE *** bell. Holmes whistled. And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this "'Quite sure, dad.' of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has the driver. her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." "That's no good." may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire "But what is it you wish?" little adventures." possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See have not had my rubber." or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at room had already been engaged for us. "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an to arrive at through this?" his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but bird I ate is country bred." hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor "'What would be the hours?' I asked. "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step see a sister of mine apply for." prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a suggested at once that there must be a communication between the my special province." "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, II. "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of as the one I chose?' who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." which it had come upon my father." a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a next day. what do you think they found in the pockets?" word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with which should have the effect of calling the attention of the pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman breakfast." and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during as this. Pray let me have the details." such person." was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, quickly through a disagreeable task. and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When keep the flames under. Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, "'Never,' said I. woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this you?" "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the think that he is innocent?" accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was strength in the others." main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice because she had spent so short a time in this country that she could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in instituted." It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. http://www.gutenberg.net I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see sit on the left-hand side of the driver." poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I "Where, indeed?" "What! You do not mean bodies?" the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then was a perfect sample of the class. The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks Foundation problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to http://www.gutenberg.net always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: "You horrify me." even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the murdered man." somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a mysterious end." merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my you." annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country go back?"