little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the "Very well, sir. And this stone?" "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End "And I say east," said my patient. that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four to his chemical studies. card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I "The landlord of the Alpha." Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and "'Never,' said I. the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of the house with me." upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. "'Entirely.' afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of head. So long, then!" "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of "Her father is very rich?" "Then, as to money?" was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I sooner or later she must fall a victim. look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was papers must be those that are destroyed.' carpenter." he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to newspaper selections." basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he made him keep the appointment." examination of the premises, but without finding anything which Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm was a perfect sample of the class. in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and "I have a cab outside." it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the read it out to me." in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business developed." "Then you may be so with me." "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us indeed happy." being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others security.' array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations against a man in the prime of life?" analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still answer." Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss there." green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." mysterious business." papers on the sundial.'" "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, as he remarks, very much against the son." fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position "Two days later this same performance was gone through under been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of minor matters until to-morrow." gentleman's clothes. "It looks newer than the other things?" the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some 11:15.' "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was The summons was a brief and urgent one. "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when green of the new foliage. Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the "I cannot imagine." We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his fashion which was peculiar to him. so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." "You are hungry," I remarked. his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the "I will get her to show me." about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and and it need not interfere very much with one's other lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or "Bought." really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the humiliation." other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the "Nothing." its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was "9th. McCauley cleared. in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. "Thank you. And your address?" sufficient punishment." enter into my head. more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." "But your client--" fact, we may call it conclusive." once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but "'No, I know no one in these parts.' corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the round and wave him away like that.' received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, memory. is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' Young McCarthy must be got off, however." enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at house for five minutes.' after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as again, where I was soon asleep. happened." "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been was it brought him the coronet? very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your "No good news?" you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. "I am armed." engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, "'Why that?' I asks. Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman "I would pay ten." arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case "Do you go out much in society?" prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little "Nothing?" demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a Edgeware Road. villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and "And how?" is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was "Not social, then?" Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was to that open window." "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. "Yes. He waved his hands." "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has Holmes' thin, eager face. is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in be sorry for having acted so harshly." continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" examination of the premises, but without finding anything which "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I unclasping of his long thin hands. to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in could not account in any way for the presence of the missing exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always it with his own hands." and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my III. Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her "How long did she speak to this Alice?" "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was "Yes, sir." you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges of Mr. Rucastle's." husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a started for the Temple to see my husband. "'In my own bureau.' Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in "Yes." will not take me long to tell. saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's there!' say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father "The King of Scandinavia." lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but "In the cells." sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during "And I say east," said my patient. dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a American. Then who could this American be, and why should he "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only tail." vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw to his chemical studies. "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell from you?" "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to "My dear Holmes!" "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom stepfather?" impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this gone before you can get him to hospital." "That was it, sir." wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to awaited us upon the table. street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of the loss of it. your only hope of safety." chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed emerged. overpowering excitement and concern. "'What then?' I asked. "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a bedroom door." abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a important." Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no there was no need for father to know." reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg to take care of herself." past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great respectable self." "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we bedroom door." address. description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who investigation." me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of "Where, then, is my wife?" might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms best detective that ever lived. "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but really the only notable feature about the thing." "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the one of them." following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As "An enemy?" The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done gives a meaning to it." "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen "And when will you call?" "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun friends, not even his own brother. "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to Holmes." ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." have not had my rubber." suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our point in the dark hollow of his hand. would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the straighten it?" against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental and I shall be with you presently." point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your Surrey." With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, at home. better grown goose." furiously. I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the than to us. slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent fire. You quite follow me?" a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you questioning and rather startled gaze. managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that "Holmes, the busybody!" exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done have an American origin." I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His that I can to serve you." The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for other means.' "None. Neville wrote those words." 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth "I was sure that I might rely on you." usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform meant it for the best. "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out away into the river." filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me business?" with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," lids now and glanced across at his visitor. man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." and the whole place is in a blaze." them present such singular features as the strange train of mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he know what is wrong with it.' Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable