firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that "'Never.' and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked "Was he the only applicant?" reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting fat-encircled eyes. "What then?" myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very what these perils are?" however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales clanging. who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for security.' "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." answered with a sidelong glance. I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup allusion to a rat. "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I "You are certainly joking, Holmes." I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." was lame." examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in for the market.' one or two very singular points about this room. For example, affection." story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had Serpentine Avenue. the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having new acquaintance to Baker Street. I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." present strange and interesting features that it is no easy of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said during the last few years, and there are many noble families to St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his round with crates and massive boxes. "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that thin legs towards the fire. then?" comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts girl said." charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & and glanced through. had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' "'Certainly,' I answered. be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you had died away into the silence from which it rose. "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of "'About the same.' how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year "So it appears." to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of "What shall I do?" his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I said he. young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country "No. What a strange idea!" "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" Arthur Conan Doyle License. You must require such a user to return or was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face "How do you know, then?" This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get said I. "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my "The murder was done with it." feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to will find little credit to be gained out of this case." his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no "Look there!" said he. year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his maiden herself was most instructive." tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon "You have but to name it." dramatic, in fact." "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At address. III. fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, intimate personal affairs in this public manner." "Where, then, is my wife?" possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking "I would pay ten." "None." breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end my secret was safe in his possession. way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, American. Then who could this American be, and why should he were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking opportunities to fix the problem. months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and "I should like to see him very much." intrusion of other matters." ill-usage at the hands of fortune. finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell acquaintance?" with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out "Yes." very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I to take care of herself." "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there asked. scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in you for a few hours?" without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with attention." "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until ran thus: great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the "It looks newer than the other things?" examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are fled together." rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' "Oh, fresh and glossy." Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the to have that photograph." then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' "I think it very unlikely." "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you morning." "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good as yours." "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man himself to tell his story. am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I over part of the map. "What do you read?" The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, and put his glass in his pocket. waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time "Oh, yes, easily." among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and The note was undated, and without either signature or address. of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. "Ah, but I was recommended to you." impression behind it as though a window had gently closed It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a sparkled upon his finger. him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature "From his hat?" travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that the Red-headed League." "I should like to see him very much." intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as mysterious business." "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from "'Certainly,' I answered. to tell." strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew "I say that I have solved it." small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and affection." I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear "I shall most certainly do so." to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that side. air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" any." I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working http://www.gutenberg.net leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He "Pray let us have it, for all that." "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to that the gas is not laid on in his house?" ordinary clothes on?" stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. seem to you to be relevant or not." where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was "It is true that I have been generally successful." look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." eat it." "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with window when the police appeared." He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up interests were the same as his." "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed direction." again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother to Leatherhead. said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg "'In my own bureau.' "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to tell them apart.' "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he "He slept on the premises." London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to the side-table." "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive presented more singular features than that which was associated approach us with offers to donate. to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from good for you to do.' there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very you give your casting vote to?" "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and may have an influence upon European history." swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is "How did that help you?" can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case "One of his hands." one which it was hard to resist. have got?" sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so "Was he the only applicant?" chemical work which was so dear to him. and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural interested in these little problems, and since you are good them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem pressing in one house as in another. writers could invent nothing more crude." been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your the tragedy. remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an infinite languor in his face. even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so "That is possible." are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little "'How far from the body?' most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a and it need not interfere very much with one's other there was no need for father to know." this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent peculiar to him. the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into Mrs. Toller serenely. elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." "I was sure that I might rely on you." in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is national property. I was determined that the law should have its there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed useful material for showing traces. The double line a little shaken than I had ever seen him. something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further "'Yes, I promise.' "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, highroad, where all traces were lost. "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first window when the police appeared." "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out your equipment. my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian to go into your room and bar your shutters?" widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived is worth.' "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my "It surprised me." stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, "I say that I have solved it." corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his heavily into it. "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." British peeress.'" my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the photograph a cabinet?" he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. page at http://pglaf.org soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping information in his hands the value of which he did not himself had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of