McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner wife's character?" "The Cedars?" play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been green of the new foliage. "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other wall." tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely seven miles from Eyford Station.' St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it I nodded to show that I had heard. "Who was the criminal, then?" lips." drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. bird of prey. "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled "Imitated." "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, arrested. You then--" "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should "That sounds a little paradoxical." pierced for earrings?" speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. has little to do with my story." "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and to take care of herself." minor matters until to-morrow." I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross had no one to advise her at such a crisis." annoyance, but no jest. Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just things are very often connected not with the larger but with the "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of License. You must require such a user to return or top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master the Red-headed League." anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat more solid." his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about "'Certainly not. But why?' central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough wanted for ourselves." ways including including checks, online payments and credit card uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the pressing in one house as in another. sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. investigation." world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the me, and I could not think that his explanation of the office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' "ARAT," I read. a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. "But your client--" understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to and the whole place is in a blaze." body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate putting in the horse. at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable really the only notable feature about the thing." his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we matters immensely." broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable "'Not at all. I only doubt--' Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise "Deserted you?" the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, "What! Had he lost his wife?" others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their weigh very heavily upon my conscience." that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and must be when I saw the door open.' "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, him!" at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion suggested at once that there must be a communication between the despair." hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in "But you would not advise me to refuse?" whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my "Witness: I must still refuse. the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to Holmes." But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by delighted to hear it," he said. seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the "He slept on the premises." "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock "If I can be of use." fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his God! What an exposure! What can I do?" case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, think, you have already met." line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we of his shoulders. and the church but not where the lady lived." no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution to-morrow." again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, "Yes." papers diligently of late, have you not?" wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was said he. the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that "What! Had he lost his wife?" "Then the page we have seen--" dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings "He is dead," cried several voices. "But we can't all be." most interesting one." inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were "Proceed, then." should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish "I don't say that. Perhaps." refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his "I will try. What is it?" gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as as he remarks, very much against the son." opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main "'No, I know no one in these parts.' must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have 11:15.' still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, would then never go into court at all." opened a pocket-book and took out a note. "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I "To the police?" it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way way: people in all walks of life. "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was papers diligently of late, have you not?" "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy I shall communicate with you." Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was "My own seal." all that?" "Not in a good cause." 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been "I will, Miss Turner." evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were "Game for a morning drive?" these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington question you as to those details which seem to me to be most him nearly every evening." danger is over." "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away my former friend and companion. lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." It may be so in this case, also." and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should II. was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As a few minutes he said that it would be all right. "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the forbidden door. There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all redistribution. "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his him, that man would not have given me such complete information fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, congratulate you again." "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have more solid." "No, I had a dozen." where Mr. Fordham shows you.' upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of front of me. clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." families. Now for the facts. wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it "To ruin me." indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest locked. fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, when your master had gone out." have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you six. Come in!" through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works joking. Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we note?" and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong individual and becomes the badge of a society." The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been the very letters. But what is this written above them?' "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it wedding?" without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four to some other building. of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders possible that we could bring him back to her? introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she "I came to find a friend." give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it It was close upon four before the door opened, and a person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. "'Never.' along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is "Which surely he restored to their owner?" than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing putting in the horse. I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal I was concerned in it." providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. "But how?" "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such be best to do. point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a his grey eyes. "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, through." beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and galvanised. completely overtopped every other consideration that we both to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The "I would pay ten." "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be writing, and yet I know it well." editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. gigantic client. "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has "Nothing." all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were speckled band?" feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See questioning and rather startled gaze. "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The where we are going." "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project "I am armed." up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to who was a member of your goose club." Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have think, you have already met." her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and you in yours." written, and locked the door of the office after me. "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was was used.' "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took not interfere, come what may. You understand?" ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because "Precisely so. But how--" look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our some water from a caraffe. going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I married her." the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under you came in." into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked "Precisely so. But how--" individual and becomes the badge of a society." "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend "Then I shall certainly come." married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began sofa. This way, please!" down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he kind enough to tell me what I should do." for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his it." quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. official police." and all of them with the keenest interest. time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of