"In answer to an advertisement." not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' "'Yes, it was gone.' in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits was feeling which was the fattest.' me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon "'I have already given you my word.' "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his heavily into it. Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of "Have you it here?" hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, writer." "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a "She told me to ask you." with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The "Then I am your man." "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too fact, we may call it conclusive." this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and Munro.' His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his "No." "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can "And help." already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The "I am still in the dark." Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure "At half-wages, in fact." Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin conduct the inquiry." means taking possession of that which another person has a prior but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was shag which I had seen upon the previous night. Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided "It looks newer than the other things?" together. behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a gigantic client. from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. "Not social, then?" upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to the night.' "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking wedding?" Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased them?" petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me maiden herself was most instructive." persecution?" do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak this unhappy family?" with frightened eyes at his accuser. more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he weighed down with some great anxiety. endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left "None." in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours "Yes." "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now infinite languor in his face. anything to do with the matter?" perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we in one or two places in England?' at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm begin with, and I had not got mine yet." however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened unkempt, staring out at me. "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and "Nothing." about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. "Very. But will he see it?" begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the "And how?" with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was money should be paid at once.' Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If the coronet in his hands?" until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most "The knees of his trousers." take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his Street. house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' stood on the top of it. "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in "What! a murderous attack?" clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding "How are you getting on?" pierced for earrings?" devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his "Not particularly." that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project "I was mad--insane." "You don't mind breaking the law?" and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. goes." with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good "It must be recovered." "About a month then." making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little congenial hunt. his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge "And that is--" d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that "Of Friday, June 19th." "Game for a morning drive?" down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it "It must be recovered." "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes your billet.' "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, thin, with a long, sharp nose?" have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage mystery may be cleared along those lines." which are rolled in Rotterdam." "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this your equipment. rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and would then never go into court at all." which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the Leadenhall Street--and--" "'It is locked up,' I answered. again on its way. an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and crowd. "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said never to learn it at all." coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have galvanised. interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social "It is his hat." the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular of the way of danger. his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the American. Then who could this American be, and why should he as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to "But you can know nothing of this?" on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So was once confined in the cab my mission was practically possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said relation between them, and what the object of his repeated fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to outbreak?" lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ you give your casting vote to?" "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it "What can it mean?" I gasped. "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" the little opening for the ventilator is." homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, "Dark enough and sinister enough." I took the paper from him and read as follows: looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' "Yes, he did." remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for "I shall most certainly do so." respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and was once confined in the cab my mission was practically to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, shaken than I had ever seen him. held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. fear." cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post just called myself is not exactly my own." array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone unkempt, staring out at me. though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For man. I know him from the photograph." triumphant cloud from his cigarette. mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a "And sit in the dark?" your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I "No, thank goodness, she did not." down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as "Yes." "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' triumphant cloud from his cigarette. avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with and capable of preserving a secret.' Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you a very grave face. downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could ceremony." matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was floor. must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven during which he might have communicated with his friend the that the gas is not laid on in his house?" "Why did you beat the pavement?" "None." that you can jump it.' come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel cup of tea. for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It certainly not very gracious." several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom grasp, he hurried from the room. was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable "And now?" He raised his hand. "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the carpenter." was it brought him the coronet? should be taken.' window when the police appeared." showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. "I should wish to." flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and hour." word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the look dissatisfied." His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant and it need not interfere very much with one's other The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a was keenly on my guard against him. Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely felt the room to be a little close.' matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of "If so, much may have happened between." "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the I held the little printed slip to the light. "At the wedding breakfast." relation between them, and what the object of his repeated use an arc-and-compass breastpin." home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which throat." bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from simple cases which are so extremely difficult." the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his promised to bring home. greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that reach." o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any outside." "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has the warnings." that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to congratulate you again." brought there to personate someone, and the real person is directly by questioning you." "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my http://www.gutenberg.net possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked hour." empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two "What do you make of that, Watson?" had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight asked. tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite "So I heard. You have him here?" bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that Lestrade of Scotland Yard." whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning "Yes, sir." closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work know what is wrong with it.' done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever situation." We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a "'I have heard so.' maid will bring up your coffee." without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we was used.' building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. Miss Holder?" head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person stalked out of the room. have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." "So it appears." the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes tied." clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few guilty parties." in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy "Can I be of assistance?" "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went "Have you her photograph?" gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be presented which may be striking and bizarre without being nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, "If so, much may have happened between." whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were neither fascinating nor artistic." remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." quick march!" "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which