impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." "Will you go?" established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither few hundred pounds.' received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a "I have hopes." bonnet, and went out." in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. jewels which you have stolen?' Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There "One?" quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce "'What then?' I asked. its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" "Witness: It was. "Where to?" "Never." should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low "Nothing?" is four-and-twenty." great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the experiences." to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to roused himself from his reverie. "You are certainly joking, Holmes." "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just "Why serious?" "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as "But she will refuse." freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a not use it unless it is absolutely needed." in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted and glanced through. was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, of this gang." disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through stammered. silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare "Breckinridge is his name." young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience of Mr. Rucastle's." This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already least a fellow-countryman. "It was an hour's good drive." vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive details should find their way into the papers. Inspector at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls in this way: ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his writing, and yet I know it well." "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his "You heard nothing yourself last night?" "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, giving me time to thank him. at once, for I have only half an hour." society." "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it paper in the air. public press." "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. the inquest, and which are worth considering." "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her http://gutenberg.net/license). never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham been deceived." "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to are windows in it, of course?" "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. charged with?" "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, thirty. side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. IS every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had present." parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of "My own seal." "Yes." rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to "That is not always so easy." forebodings. very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." whether it answered to the description of any of their and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it "I should be immensely obliged to you." King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the Literary Archive Foundation of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. later, upon the night of May 2nd." mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to becomes even more simple." "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of "And now?" I asked. despaired of." hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY read over the extraordinary announcement. "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any was lame." test if we have an answer to our advertisement." death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' of the one which your family is now devouring." said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" "A thing like a cleaver," said he. "'Stolen!' he cried. both be extremely obliged.' "Yes." "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, there were one or two details which were new to me. But the have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's more terrible than the truth. "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we went to the Alpha were town bred." smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual "I am all attention, madam." She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, "I see no marks." "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for "I have come for advice." assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream "Certainly, madam." "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. "Yes." "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking them?" more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with "Yes." "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from that you saw all that I did." wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every individual and becomes the badge of a society." imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her investigation." the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some "What then?" over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are "'What are you doing there?' he asked. "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project if I call to-morrow?" Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a cigars in their mouths. started for the Temple to see my husband. at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw crime." treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one Leave Paddington by the 11:15." really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. ceremony." if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" "But I have heard all that you have heard." with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such is worth.' "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the "She told me to ask you." "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the "What of the rat, then?" a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same will take you up to see the machine.' black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six all?" husband's writing, madam." "Will you bet, then?" despair." one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a long narrative. squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and she slowly sank and died without having recovered her apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival fattened it expressly for you.' doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a "They are typewritten," I remarked. can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this "Won't it ring?" twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she is now desirous of getting those letters back." "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: "Pray be precise as to details," said he. closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few "None. Neville wrote those words." "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." "It is no ordinary one." "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is beg that you will break it off." "'There is a drive, then?' tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? Mary, has deserted me." previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. instincts rose up against that laugh. hard-headed British jury." condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." habit of advancing money.' Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his opportunities to fix the problem. both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was which we had just quitted. where Mr. Fordham shows you.' him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow "Nothing?" settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless observed. III. the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour with you?" here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this returned to France?" "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was fish-monger and a tide-waiter." public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm go from here to the Strand." cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the Pope's Court. "Precisely." and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she upon the shelf for the interim." thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at where Mr. Fordham shows you.' client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving "I am in hopes that she does." the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has little trying to do so much typewriting?" up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some than to us. request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a swore that no one else had been in the front room during the which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, careless servant girl?" Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other astonishment. Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally "And what then?" locked. all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' the running down." "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been I shall continue with my miserable story. "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and "Well, it is a possible supposition." do.' "Yes, the wine-cellar." it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation hour?' Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! paper in the air. back to my heart. "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, made his money." a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and "No bad?" coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment beg that you will break it off." me where it went to?" sake, don't!" income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, "Pray do so." had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it horse could go." "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot indiscretion." get her out of the way." springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the mysterious business." you understand?" the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was