doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." "Yes, they were peculiar boots." small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, Munro.' not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for to tell." "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise "Then I can wait in the next room." bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the had formerly been in part my own. from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. was a perfect sample of the class. by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the formed some opinion?" when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that impression behind it as though a window had gently closed "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to "'Yes, I promise.' "She told me to ask you." "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." "A client, then?" hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those I nodded again. by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some "'Ten to two.' "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported giving me time to thank him. photograph?" "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the "From his hat?" the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, The King stared at him in amazement. in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable coroner's jury." son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. wedding?" observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which said he. did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always shaken than I had ever seen him. however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as and your relations to her." My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to you." "Witness: I must still refuse. it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to noble correspondent could be. disturbance in my wife." handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly "Thank you. And your address?" considering the formidable letters which were received by himself police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. kindly on the shoulder. creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered be best to do. very old mansion. "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I "I have seen the police." "Of Friday, June 19th." "No, I am descending." the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to "Pray be precise as to details," said he. on in his house." man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put "Never to return." protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in "No. His orders were to stay in the house." the one as in the other." "'Yes, sir.' 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which was keenly on my guard against him. "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many "'Very good.' mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it "Will you bet, then?" are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the again, where I was soon asleep. subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. feature." compunction about shooting them down." the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was to Leatherhead. succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place appeal." thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the guilty one." companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, business." the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But point our research must commence, and we will begin it by LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be congenial hunt. "What is it?" husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send over here." at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH been." very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the wife's character?" "What! You do not mean bodies?" "That's no good." rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. "Proceed, then." "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by "My photograph." "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address "I am all attention, madam." "Witness: Nothing definite. received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" 11:15.' standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and your billet.' has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in "My dear Holmes!" quick march!" "It is half-past ten now." "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I indeed which he could not unravel. to miss it." produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof might have a private word with us. All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room "My dear Holmes!" he. XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. and a shock of very red hair. fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching "Ha! you find it so?" little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and the nursery. deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has individual and becomes the badge of a society." secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the do you make of it all?" the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was "What then?" "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. guilty one." an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if "'Oh, no.' clanging. whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who "But your client--" presented which may be striking and bizarre without being "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action your Highness to the police-station?" upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." "This photograph!" "A client, then?" Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at rooms." the bottom.' Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught do you make of it all?" PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the I shall continue with my miserable story. has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes The note was undated, and without either signature or address. are, and they are waiting for us." the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." "And who is her maid?" "'Certainly not. But why?' bell. Holmes whistled. paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, you?" Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it "It missed him, then?" Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the child?' "Upon what point?" people in all walks of life. "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so "Texas, I think." "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the "Yes, certainly." of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are "Yes, that is the Crown." a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall feature." "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of "On the contrary, this is the right side." exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him back to my heart. "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of 'please.'" can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young to miss it." "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the strode off upon his way. "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all appointment with me for six o'clock?" knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob London for the present?" characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that more terrible than the truth. business." "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike it. Project Gutenberg-tm works. Stoke Moran." thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the gone. my little problems." "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing new duties?' particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another is now desirous of getting those letters back." begun to whiten, even as mine has." his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid it right.' "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they not fit the lock." however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between it." "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" "It certainly sounds feasible." together. the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his he died? had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, of this gang." "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself closely." "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have tell them apart.' "And on what day did he meet his death?" expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in business." PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to security.' "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon