had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner "I think that I had better go, Holmes." prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not "She showed me, as I told you she would." Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set "Stolen." impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of threw himself down with his face to the pillow. high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders followed. exactly what you advise." "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. chambers. were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at me what he had done with the three missing stones. greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which matters immensely." state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try "I know where it is." his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. "What will you say?" Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project evidence," I remarked. gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few were new raised from a basin. at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your your billet.' lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander it with his own hands." "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me "The murder was done with it." your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our "My stepfather's business papers." everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might occurred." see me here to avoid scandal." the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of again before evening." and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted "What of the rat, then?" "I will get her to show me." "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and this man was intellectual?" bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not very peculiar words of the dying woman?" "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy Street. particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish "None." halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out "'Yes, it was gone.' came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your You can understand that this register and diary may implicate profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. overpowering excitement and concern. Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." any more." grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the "No more words. Get out!" hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to the stones. whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. take the flies, but not before." over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change any more." and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the more solid." time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of gentleman's clothes. you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. License. You must require such a user to return or like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her "What! You do not mean bodies?" word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we any." your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should Does that suggest anything?" before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is do.' ashen face. near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp have one." after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me child?' deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would you came in." "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I pierced for earrings?" "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late "Certainly." "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment particular state visit http://pglaf.org "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. it? Did I buy the geese off you?" family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, it means?" whether it answered to the description of any of their "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. "Yes." advice." The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the bed dies. Does not that strike you?" "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help man. "I was mad--insane." murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, to miss it." I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An "Ha! you find it so?" no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms became a certainty. "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for "It must be recovered." and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. shag which I had seen upon the previous night. England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for just ask you whether you had heard it.' of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the "He said that you could solve anything." first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that prison!" there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH that before taking the final step I should like to submit the make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. conceal it?" eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought "At half-wages, in fact." I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, other lovers by making love himself." some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached "'What would be the hours?' I asked. solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal Leave Paddington by the 11:15." "And sit in the dark?" do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, "I fear not." time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat "It is very kind of you." "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from about. his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the "Were they all fastened this morning?" "You'll never persuade me to believe that." "But how will you look?" always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three business came to an end." Surrey." knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. "Certainly." agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is disturbance in my wife." course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow night.' said he. "That also I could fathom." been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich who was a member of your goose club." me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided The events in question occurred in the early days of my "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest this truth that in these little records of our cases which you must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional "'You doubt its value?' he asked. slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard important." photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain she to prove their authenticity?" pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and it means?" "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had nonsense.' "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him late!' "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two fat-encircled eyes. "Because he was handy and would come cheap." dates and names. to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I "Witness: I must still refuse. exactly what you advise." protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord think that he is innocent?" quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the "How on earth--" retorted upon me, and I on you." confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he your only hope of safety." Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." train from Paddington which would bring you there at about 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." are, I think, all that we need." aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the and put his glass in his pocket. not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would "Yes?" immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. you give your casting vote to?" Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood Pope's Court. "On Monday." days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter outsides of the windows. out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days "Entirely." your bag." showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He Where does the thing come from?' slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, said he. speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no know that the truth is known." "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to shoulder; "he's all right." Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another "But what is it you wish?" wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them second window is the one that I jumped from." "Then, how do you know?" a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden "Why, what do you mean?" even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His investigation." "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to "I will get her to show me." excitement. with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very and inquire as to the address." both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third kindly on the shoulder. little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said "It certainly sounds feasible." unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was "I would give my fortune to have them back." "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I something of him before." sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What certainly do as you advise." engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we question you as to those details which seem to me to be most the address that was given us in the advertisement. "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a once more. "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of my friend's incisive reasoning. shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked "'I am sure if I had known--' "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." undoubtedly my uncle's." "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have "Yes, sir." grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our the Red-headed League." London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as searched, without anything being found which could incriminate sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close fattened it expressly for you.' here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a occupations.' present strange and interesting features that it is no easy thought that she would have been so carried away." "I am sure." "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that "Nothing." coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain very old mansion. faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. have not had my rubber." everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands child?' introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have morning." It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is the best of training." To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low "It is very clear." do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." the child." You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the nothing of it?" cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is you." prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project "But she could not love him." desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my written. time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by meant it for the best. I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black information in his hands the value of which he did not himself lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned to me.