a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means nice household for a young lady." familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will "Imitated." know all about it," he snarled. lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." girl said." pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn room?" request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. "How are you getting on?" permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have little trying to do so much typewriting?" "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for and wait." know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to "'Yes.' the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than been shamefully used." "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round said he at last. frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked "Precisely." little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." "I guessed as much." considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! be sorry for having acted so harshly." days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, like that before?" enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been that there was nothing in it, after all." insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke "You are hungry," I remarked. me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our comes from the middle window." "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but "No, distinctly professional." off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This his grey eyes. "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch could not have written that. It is the German who is so "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made details." least a most suspicious remark." upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his and the church but not where the lady lived." hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried "Where is it, then?" your equipment. without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without when your master had gone out." as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife fashion which was peculiar to him. "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have "What! You do not mean bodies?" returning from some small jollification and was making his way quite distinctive." of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well easy-going way." "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. the very morning of the wedding." scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who the salesman. "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My habit of advancing money.' gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else "'I shall certainly be there.' with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that "You have but to name it." ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To sound at heart." wall." quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the Lestrade of Scotland Yard." "So it appears." his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at some city in a dream. better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant some terrible trap for her." swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. that the gas is not laid on in his house?" elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or point our research must commence, and we will begin it by the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you once more. "It is very kind of you." orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel "No. His orders were to stay in the house." is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" giving me time to thank him. "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. "I promise," said Holmes. came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's "I never have." came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin nice household for a young lady." nights." turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few "It is a murder, then?" rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at "'No, I know no one in these parts.' "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" second window is the one that I jumped from." 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two my former friend and companion. John Swain, of St. Augustine. which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his you give your casting vote to?" heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy "If so, much may have happened between." stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check the house with me." relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help to-night's adventure." and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his "I guessed as much." "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the the night.' "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was "Yes, only one." "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and examination of the premises, but without finding anything which to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced hurried away. annoyance, but no jest. surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in fashion which was peculiar to him. "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was "You will not go there first?" that my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I "Where, then, is my wife?" conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" with you?" leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with own family. while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. together. cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll foresight and the moral retrogression?" "It must be recovered." out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up "My stepfather's business papers." attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at "Well, some hundreds of times." conduct the inquiry." Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in "No, I had a dozen." wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" a little more before I quite committed myself. and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I confronted him. tapping his fingers upon the table. Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of "We must sit without light. He would see it through the where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the done what I asked you, Jones?" of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which fatally injured? company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its You want to know what became of those geese?" not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand writer." was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the "He is dead," cried several voices. "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I place, I think that there is good ground to think that the "No." you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible "What!" he roared. bird of prey. her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was you." "What do you make of that, Watson?" see a sister of mine apply for." intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible all-comprehensive glances. yourselves in at night?" outbreak?" Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does it." of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and mystery may be cleared along those lines." compunction about shooting them down." "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, carried out of court." observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. were unconscious?" giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. him nearly every evening." work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at Eyford." home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no "Yes, he did." young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the very morning of my second wedding." "It was a confession," I ejaculated. photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor it. "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman "About a month then." overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be "I came to find a friend." "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and "An enemy?" results." "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in You want to know what became of those geese?" bearing upon the case." congratulate you again." battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention "He slept on the premises." of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' narrative." save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached hand, madam?" at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." him. but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth of." "So I am. Very much so." which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of row." and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax "And your mother is alive?" "But you were on a friendly footing?" And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have "Perhaps we may make them less so." vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few your own bird, so if you wish--" "No, I am descending." "And sit in the dark?" the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless particular state visit http://pglaf.org bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil extraordinary contortions. the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since Leadenhall Street--and--" broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." not use it unless it is absolutely needed." "'What, the red-headed man?' your own bird, so if you wish--" public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing "Perfectly so." problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" the warnings." my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair upon the white wrist. like that before?" suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the "To ruin me." absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has cause to be." "A call for help, you thought?" to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and frequently gained my first real insight into the character of coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a away into the river." came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not have established a very serious case against the son of the panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not direction."