it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and fear." "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he "What! Had he lost his wife?" man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet stammered. this as likely?" "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to read it out to me." "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was me upon any point which I do not make clear." one else, I think." shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the gives a meaning to it." nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible "Seven!" I answered. your only hope of safety." brain must have something in it." "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." past. "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned in a friendly supper." chill to my heart. "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we meant." to where he stood hid behind the curtain. connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! "You have a clue?" and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who problems help me to do so." at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a families. Now for the facts. "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me in a very precise fashion." the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her "9th. McCauley cleared. British peeress.'" editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I gentleman's clothes. the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." "It is to him that this trophy belongs." "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and cheerful." "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him "Where, then?" the warnings." to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want the coroner come to?" eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at might have a private word with us. We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of forbidden door. dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. be. had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold careless servant girl?" detained." came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" get the tickets." "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the I have it here in my museum." silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's to affect your life." "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity "Nothing?" as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." results." "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs "Always." "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the with the outside air!" down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious have got?" "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution the night.' "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down charged with?" analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate "Stolen." "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine happened." "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote detective. at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the "I will, Miss Turner." "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. "He might." though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and question. thought that she would have been so carried away." will not take me long to tell. of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He You want to know what became of those geese?" family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning "And the cigar-holder?" wanted for ourselves." the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch "And Miss Sutherland?" placed his cuttings. Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, papers." "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. "But your client--" stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue "Did he not advertise?" "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some me. You must get home instantly and act." the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael was feeling which was the fattest.' "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, both be extremely obliged.' cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage daring than any effort of the imagination." Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return there were one or two details which were new to me. But the floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, "What!" he roared. statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing just ask you whether you had heard it.' than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could call for protection in the marriage market, for the present side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. question," said Holmes, smiling. "Yes, from Horsham." "I don't say that. Perhaps." standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. me upon any point which I do not make clear." through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read ill-usage at the hands of fortune. thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I go--none." are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be "Yes." "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it at my own good fortune. hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you of this gang." "Where is it, then?" Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern purpose equally well?" left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. "You will not go there first?" invisible to me," I remarked. paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he opportunities to fix the problem. insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as shoulder. Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, that I am arrested." "What I expected to see." answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always your most interesting statement." "Get out!" said he. to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred "I will do it." narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. call you and give you the chance." upon an income of about 60 pounds." beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the fear." "Did your wife hear all this?" right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will Heh?' Heh?' give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some call it cruel." He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or "Nothing?" there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is "In San Francisco, a year ago." "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done little adventures." then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the vague figure huddled up in the darkness. but preventing her from injuring another. slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." breakfast." Holmes' face clouded over. benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic lost his Christmas dinner." house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they "Very. But will he see it?" and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere "I say that I have solved it." "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." "Thank you. And your address?" hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would the warnings." line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been Holmes' face clouded over. took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" writing, and yet I know it well." have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to "Yes." "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now generous with you in money matters.' "You have but to name it." "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to "How about poison?" knowledge of the world." should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. bears upon the case?" glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. "You have a clue?" "Yes." down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which nothing with him." "And how?" dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and depend upon my doing so.' "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. three of the beryls in it, was missing. "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we of a light. "The Cedars?" everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep the Friday. Was it to be in church?" thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's "But your client--" one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for burst into a hearty fit of laughter. a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. that the gas is not laid on in his house?" There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one out of this horrible affair." "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, front of the hall door has given its name to the place. moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in weigh very heavily upon my conscience." mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the present." into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and "His face fell immediately. In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and strong and stiff." breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up begun to whiten, even as mine has." send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the sit on the left-hand side of the driver." Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my "None." surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. "You forget that I know nothing about it." voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and back into the street. "An accident, I presume?" "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. "What are they?" implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' Holmes rather sternly. front of me. handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even humiliation." reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered himself to tell his story. but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated "I will get her to show me." correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of characteristics, but those are the more obvious." force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, "What can you not understand?" about here speaks of his kindness to him." I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a "What can it mean?" I gasped. India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known fashion which was peculiar to him. business." pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight "10th. John Swain cleared. master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had James Windibank. Voilà tout!" all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was "Married! When?" corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to the very letters. But what is this written above them?' pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. "Ha! you find it so?" back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the bell. Holmes whistled. adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of "I have a cab outside." where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door "I cannot think." "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another said he. "Have you it here?" Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed "Here?" are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard "'Stolen!' he cried. "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, them, and came down just as you departed. London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. troubles have been weighing upon his mind. rooms." works. you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which "She will not sell." "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship