heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all fled together." slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a Mrs. Toller serenely. be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my gives a meaning to it." style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the his grey eyes. he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and business in the City. She little knew what. his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to whether it answered to the description of any of their about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a upon the white wrist. to you." It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached your billet.' it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said more terrible than the truth. they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging investigation." They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, me. have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the golden eyeglasses. freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be into the bag, and made for the door. signal between you and your father? half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. "I should like to see him very much." that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a "Why? What do you mean?" done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return fled together." endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." "Did you observe the colour?" simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of had no one to advise her at such a crisis." waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the Count Von Kramm." "By train from Waterloo." official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, "But your client--" set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called one of them." "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in "It was a confession," I ejaculated. down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy "Game for a morning drive?" distance from the station, and there we found the young lady as he folded up the epistle. "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a and the church but not where the lady lived." so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." emerged. all that?" town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. were wasted." disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was hurried by. aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper British peeress.'" gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my "But how will you look?" the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, "Very murderous indeed." one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just suggested at once that there must be a communication between the upon a handsome competence. he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the families. Now for the facts. was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was mysterious business." ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round to me. still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and "And from a noble client?" to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed conduct the inquiry." were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right "It is true that I have been generally successful." smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be murdered man." despaired of." knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, compunction about shooting them down." He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at "Nothing." that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off open." "No, but the enclosure is." discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no green of the new foliage. sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for any." performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over coroner's jury." that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into "Look there!" said he. next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would his huge brown hands. "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have the iron safe, which he closed upon it. A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which McCarthy." came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He McCarthy." by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you presented which may be striking and bizarre without being station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to "What!" he roared. could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average drawing your inferences." waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, eat it." woman who has had her own way to make in the world. situation." a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who business matters.' really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the "But who is he?" His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several one's self under obligations.' I shall continue with my miserable story. "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this in him." her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some back alive. her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me Foundation charged with?" time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. strong and stiff." his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, more solid." whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. relief. fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she stood on the top of it. you want, then?' young Openshaw's." "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall delighted to hear it," he said. understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think I shall continue with my miserable story. carried out of court." minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he in the port of London." to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been clanging. the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, despaired of." "'What, the red-headed man?' posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is "It is no ordinary one." tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, his face. once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the "Dark enough and sinister enough." "Yes. He waved his hands." male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California interest. They are important, you understand, without being envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after "But she will refuse." insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a with some details as to your case." say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of followed. and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any have an American origin." of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who John Swain, of St. Augustine. in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence she to prove their authenticity?" "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he details." and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I "'Tell me all about it,' said I. whole matter to your consideration." With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the affection." ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his the King without delay." accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in "'I am sure that I do not know.' papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was "Do you receive much company?" he asked. making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm "Has he come with you to-night?" room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope might help us?" taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." Dr. Gregory B. Newby without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few towards the blaze. doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow woman." visitors." submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but row." unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must four million human beings all jostling each other within the this as likely?" o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but later, upon the night of May 2nd." and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was "Why, it's a dummy," said he. "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. "Whose house is it?" "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are "That is also quite modern," said the lady. as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a Arthur Conan Doyle such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found which are rolled in Rotterdam." Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to placed his cuttings. which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been now. It seems that there had been some informality about their "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. "Get out!" said he. have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul "But what harm can there be in that?" out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, "But you would not advise me to refuse?" had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, "'Oh, no.' calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his eat it." "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my province." "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the "Certainly, madam." to-night?" I asked. broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly "Nothing." slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, "No. What a strange idea!" my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have Does that suggest anything?" thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was strength." "No more words. Get out!" "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for more solid." this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he danger is over." was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he outside." the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this just ask you whether you had heard it.' "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a "It is true that I have been generally successful." instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported "In what way?" asked Holmes. the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes "I am about to be married." "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: best detective that ever lived. Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I place of silver." sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close