Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his very peculiar words of the dying woman?" The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. could gather together that I was able to avert another public send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. "'I am sure that I do not know.' to miss it." superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity furiously. on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are companion quietly. was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with "But of what society?" after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my night.' said he. myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there "Indeed! Whose, then?" "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad I shall continue with my miserable story. second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My "Perhaps we may make them less so." visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. notes," he said. Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' late!' my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at "When did she vanish, then?" must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I one or two very singular points about this room. For example, you, my dear young lady?' conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." death." "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, to talk it over. States. "'A dozen yards or so.' reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. "No, distinctly professional." after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. "That is unusual in a young girl." a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank window when the police appeared." as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some him!" photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you the coronet in his hand?" happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that footfalls from the street. to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own desk. and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four miles off. A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and "Stolen." shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, Holmes' thin, eager face. examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some upon the white wrist. is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to future lives." Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very "'And what are they worth?' I asked. "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must best detective that ever lived. Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I opened a pocket-book and took out a note. something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been I took the paper from him and read as follows: "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and interests were the same as his." all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about "Perhaps we may make them less so." leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." was once confined in the cab my mission was practically middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the "'No, I know no one in these parts.' all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were anything to do with the matter?" "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from outside." traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. "Then I am your man." out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch "Not in the least." "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who once more. feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old "'And the work?' The King stared at him in amazement. helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it III. essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" "And who is her maid?" man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend "But she will refuse." me, and I could not think that his explanation of the thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the stood on the top of it. yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." "To ruin me." the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing ways including including checks, online payments and credit card a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the province." "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But upon the white wrist. and have this put in the evening papers." over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I thin legs towards the fire. Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the "No legal papers or certificates?" no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in "His face fell immediately. parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried burst into a hearty fit of laughter. and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted hardly wander." "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. "No, finished." are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." "I don't say that. Perhaps." you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." fishes. four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that "Holmes, the busybody!" fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager could not account in any way for the presence of the missing fasten all the windows?" part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black persecution?" Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could hurried by. old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." instincts rose up against that laugh. into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in before the coroner and the police-court." of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said "Precisely." the dangers which encompass me." frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small "I cannot imagine." stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a "The knees of his trousers." "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue hurried away. chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building me. table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works remarked. This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you security.' us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the "But how will you look?" would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if "But his lameness?" and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at I have it here in my museum." gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week "Stolen." retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the coroner's jury." "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what "By all means." flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine the so-precious time, but come!' results." in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the and laid it on the table. as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now to me. this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the started for the Temple to see my husband. increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she crackling voice. as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. Surrey." clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your habit of advancing money.' And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean not personally threatened." "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of south, for the country is more deserted there." "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property salesman. "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. "Why, what do you mean?" Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as "Yes." The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with "She showed me, as I told you she would." desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand confronted him. time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of three fields round his house, and there he would take his mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an there were one or two details which were new to me. But the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is "I assure you that I am in your hands." he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of problems help me to do so." a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were writing, and yet I know it well." "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only quite distinctive." "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since "'Not at all. I only doubt--' "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." never to learn it at all." front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City the address that was given us in the advertisement. family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were "I was certainly surprised to find you there." outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about shoulder. will find little credit to be gained out of this case." have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no one which it was hard to resist. politicians who had been sent down from the North. was not a bird to be seen there. should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." bell. Holmes whistled. assist you in forming an opinion." Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most jewels which you have stolen?' photograph?" case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are there in twenty minutes." have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down