father's young wife. know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A time." dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very "My photograph." that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a "I beg pardon." thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, opened a pocket-book and took out a note. police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the "Why, what do you mean?" words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been careless servant girl?" so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous voice. was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible and the colonel ushered me in. upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." as he remarks, very much against the son." should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do would apply.' importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely corner of the building. "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. "The landlord of the Alpha." "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' looking up at the numbers of the houses." "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became my special province." "And you can do nothing until then?" nonsense.' hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can "And is that all?" circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never chair. case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective particular state visit http://pglaf.org place, I think that there is good ground to think that the when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they believe that I should never have any practice at all. there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an the stones. the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who was a loud and authoritative tap. that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were "Was she in good spirits?" investigation." been able to understand it, in a very few words. opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the to a more successful conclusion." frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others "In what way?" asked Holmes. customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An the station." but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real "'And the work?' be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' again on its way. LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little "How can you tell that?" tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it "It is very kind of you." answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which and effective." in one or two places in England?' "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may "On Monday." to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the During two years I have had three consultations and one small "You think so, too?" case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I little trying to do so much typewriting?" "Have you it here?" step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such "No. His orders were to stay in the house." reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her best detective that ever lived. "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow "Stoke Moran?" said he. England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event murdered man." might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a has little to do with my story." something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate take the flies, but not before." others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then address. there was no need for father to know." This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, "Ah, but I was recommended to you." "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were simple cases which are so extremely difficult." returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty "Will you bet, then?" "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to "There is the writing." things are very often connected not with the larger but with the surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in "'As governess?' believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend out." better in every way that they should make their position a little key turn in the lock." other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." "9th. McCauley cleared. clang of the bell. possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to answered with a sidelong glance. round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So chambers. thirty. handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I galvanised. my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, "Married! When?" the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty "Do you go out much in society?" legal crime." remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare obstinate." figure." Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and said he, "my real name is James Ryder." behind me. where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To the stones. photograph?" "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips business came to an end." "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an just ask you whether you had heard it.' mystery may be cleared along those lines." "BALLARAT." "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 "May I see it?" shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard "The King of Scandinavia." that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to depend upon your compliance." with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been crime." "But of what society?" carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid unkempt, staring out at me. "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed "And leave your case unfinished?" his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come helping a boy to put up the shutters. Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been was it brought him the coronet? skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. four million human beings all jostling each other within the vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing fire. You quite follow me?" "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across lost his Christmas dinner." elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he "How long did she speak to this Alice?" the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little "'Is purely nominal.' "Nothing." immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be "Very murderous indeed." interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil Sholtos." which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said stood on the top of it. along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the "What office?" "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet strong reason behind." disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I "'There is a drive, then?' the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the what is your own theory as to what took place?" twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his you?" I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded leaning back in his chair. derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or "That you are never beaten." "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled morning." bed dies. Does not that strike you?" "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless your own bird, so if you wish--" "You think that he is dead?" "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin Count Von Kramm." us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. the station." round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I interests were the same as his." keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch said he. "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in "It is his hat." for its centre. behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever directors have had misgivings upon the subject." wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that to a more successful conclusion." Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable sneer upon his pale face. has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not "But how did you gain them?" "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still never will be, entirely cleared up. "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This "No good news?" know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and the south-west, I see." "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so "What do you mean?" 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted "I was afraid that you were engaged." 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." are windows in it, of course?" entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for be sorry for having acted so harshly." "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from girl said." rooms." "Nothing." little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy is acting for the best. "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had were unconscious?" was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. "Breckinridge is his name." One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by "Certainly." London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled chemical work which was so dear to him. horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the "'Why that?' I asks. above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, to change my dress. "Yes, sir." was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling was a perfect sample of the class. original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed "What will you do, then?" most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully was keenly on my guard against him. "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a bled considerably." to have that photograph." "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room fait accompli?" my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the conceal it?" slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, breakfast and whispered something to her husband. "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem "And help." "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** strength in the others." late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three "Of what day?" family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been call for protection in the marriage market, for the present was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our "He might." saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of "Yes." akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the way in." "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing "Do you receive much company?" he asked. "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, "But what is it you wish?" Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of said I. quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. "What then?" were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far be. either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. me have 200 pounds?' "And how did you find out?" sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower and shall probably return to London by the evening train." "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King fashion which was peculiar to him. down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the "I think that it is very probable." "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the Lee, in the county of Kent." that, and I came down." through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I late!' delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow "Here?" light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished,