impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the him, that man would not have given me such complete information force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, legal crime." parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so fled together." of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton sound at heart." Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." the one as in the other." safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until you in yours." thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black until night should bring an explanation. careless servant girl?" "'Certainly not.' all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was to some other building. "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in third from London." so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as next day. north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in wife's character?" deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." "Yesterday." strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me future lives." called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will bell. Holmes whistled. Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and "And what did you learn from him?" "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have thin, with a long, sharp nose?" self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of used to be." him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker "Nothing." "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me cigar and let me expound." some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp stalked out of the room. "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off "'Certainly,' I answered. have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a of this gang." returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to returning from some small jollification and was making his way her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally the stones. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the telegram would bring me down to your help." the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a his knees, staring into the fire. disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact placed his cuttings. and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he careless servant girl?" "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." strode off upon his way. entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were a monotonous occupation." "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the waste of energy." myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open was a perfect sample of the class. gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be "Not I." has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and "Dark enough and sinister enough." minor matters until to-morrow." third from London." seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This as he remarks, very much against the son." ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, thin legs towards the fire. her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so friends, not even his own brother. particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those "What can you not understand?" coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another noting anything else of interest. Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but chair. him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a advice." was feeling which was the fattest.' foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free "But how?" flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" acted in my house last night?" found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" "Who by?" departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as the very letters. But what is this written above them?' at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. the address that was given us in the advertisement. might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend dear old homesteads?" his face. upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and "Nothing?" "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a matter." allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried "One of his hands." trifles." chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' writing, and yet I know it well." "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may hands. a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came until night should bring an explanation. the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me during that time.' "'Never.' as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can to a light-house. a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in laugh and put his lips to my ear. have accepted such a situation. "None." have established a very serious case against the son of the expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to sooner or later she must fall a victim. comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend green of the new foliage. "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, advice." and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm "The gentleman I describe." "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms "'You cannot say what it was?' at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of Countess of Morcar's?" The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say "I say that I have solved it." took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the obstinate." tapping his fingers upon the table. "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held "No more words. Get out!" clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in leaning back in his chair. of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a particular state visit http://pglaf.org wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I pictures, libraries, or plate. cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself "Just look it up, then." "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." face and glided from the room. aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a you for a few hours?" the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little "Yes." conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much writing, and yet I know it well." as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as a very grave face. sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been that I may have something better before very many minutes are violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for chamber." conversation I have gathered that they have been married about think that he is innocent?" which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at "'Is 4 pounds a week.' affair. beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced is now desirous of getting those letters back." "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for "My Mary? Impossible!" "Look there!" said he. "You have but to name it." statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the "A call for help, you thought?" we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, have not had my rubber." found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom of." believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone train.' little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand kindly on the shoulder. "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, "So it appears." "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock troubles have been weighing upon his mind. pierced for earrings?" practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left that I may have something better before very many minutes are have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for room?" have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by wedding?" "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my again, where I was soon asleep. status with the IRS. police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, highly," said Holmes. "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was call it cruel." "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." rat could hardly pass through." ourselves in the office." doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime use an arc-and-compass breastpin." extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously fluttered off among the others. The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my your equipment. threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy chill to my heart. preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic "And for present expenses?" "A greater distance to travel." outsides of the windows. "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever "You have but to name it." events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' "And why?" "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' the bed, and you in that chair." "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, Eyford at 11:15.' sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do II. promised to bring home. I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than interests were the same as his." All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it would apply.' late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he written, and locked the door of the office after me. glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and From what you have told me I think that it is possible that front of me. has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for other lovers by making love himself." "Then what has happened to him?" feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue "By all means." painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to "By no means." "Awake, Watson?" he asked. International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were brought there to personate someone, and the real person is "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. individual and becomes the badge of a society." and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. "Yesterday." ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." bed dies. Does not that strike you?" "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I "The Cedars?" overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow "In the cells." "That is possible." Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with confronted him. and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban "Yes. He waved his hands." shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most chill to my heart. "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, showing my impatience. very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the to have been novel and of interest." points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has ready to-morrow?' "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge "No?" he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand License. You must require such a user to return or lost his Christmas dinner." safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some