for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the "Yes." "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable Mrs. Toller serenely. coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but "You don't mind breaking the law?" would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a me upon any point which I do not make clear." stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a that, and I came down." and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." which should have the effect of calling the attention of the I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek the matter." apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with intrusion of other matters." presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this Countess of Morcar's?" the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him "The murder was done with it." reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, place of silver." to surprise her." assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers started for the Temple to see my husband. "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss "In answer to an advertisement." what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the "Yes, he did." indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." to Leatherhead. Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and attention." finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic closely." is four-and-twenty." and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, with you alone." for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. "'Yes, I promise.' lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right "My opinion is in no way altered." the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which "That also I could fathom." but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands "Yes, that is the Crown." "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man "And why?" The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, "Your presence might be invaluable." whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City "No." autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded "Get out!" said he. What do you deduce from it?" the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her "Yes, certainly." The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' morning." run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to Lee, in the county of Kent." said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the just called myself is not exactly my own." heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average "Nothing." "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, "But the mystery?" they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter "But we can't all be." Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' orange pips. Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. affair. Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the relief. and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. have I gained?" next day. of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." was once confined in the cab my mission was practically is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the "That sounds a little paradoxical." "A call for help, you thought?" "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these have accepted such a situation. "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may the King without delay." so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and "Nor running a chance of arrest?" green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the asked with his eyes open. "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a quick march!" very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and "Ha! you find it so?" skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic get the tickets." "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was without success. At last the little money which I had saved began "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." "'Then let me do so?' "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you "You have the photograph?" "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged away in different directions, and I went off to make my own importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came that before taking the final step I should like to submit the lost his Christmas dinner." we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this desk. lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little http://gutenberg.net/license). swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done within hail.' year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke returned to France?" "But what will you do?" preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I "The doctor?" "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still "And why?" the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which into the room. during the last few years, and there are many noble families to effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were "Yes, only one." Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar article?" a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for "Why did you pick him?" important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. characteristics, but those are the more obvious." be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to quick march!" point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. chance at all." business." "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed I took the paper from him and read as follows: eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. certainly not very gracious." "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which "I am to be neutral?" chance at all." the one as in the other." the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? are, and they are waiting for us." shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a read it out to me." simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, "Witness: It was. examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in observed. several quiet little villages up there." tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at come either from the window or the door. My attention was going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us learned something! Where are the gems?" advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came "Was she in good spirits?" jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." business?" Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the "This concluded the examination of the witness." "Why did you beat the pavement?" what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another "Dark enough and sinister enough." the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your whether it answered to the description of any of their neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" "Thank you. And your address?" familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people residence of the great financier. do." her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to remarked. money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them very peculiar words of the dying woman?" manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the "To ruin me." Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the here and I will read it to you: "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had will find little credit to be gained out of this case." him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange her also." "You saw the ventilator, too?" dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all breakfast." "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed "And how did he make his money?" appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." "Nearly eleven." hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered to talk it over. more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I hardly wander." lamp in his hand. this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we "We have tried and failed." through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the Foundation "Eh? What was that?" observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for will not take me long to tell. o'clock is it?" "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa "'And the work?' it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark "Very much so." to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. empty. behind me. from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." charged with?" points in connection with it which never have been, and probably accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." bell. Holmes whistled. "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, business." and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I mysterious end." engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," into her hand at the door and which lured her within their part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His quick march!" my friend's incisive reasoning. me." sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have "My own seal." that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical where we are going." back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly when your master had gone out." wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far respectable self." "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a "I do." returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a happened." "Precisely so. But how--" "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge "Your presence might be invaluable." "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear you came in." so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and