"'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without is worth.' reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and "And that is--" "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" breakfast?" "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. Project Gutenberg-tm works. somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and round with crates and massive boxes. "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I woman." "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight "But what will you do?" everything which you would wish to know." very peculiar words of the dying woman?" had picked up in the wood. ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you "How can you tell that?" "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the good-night and bustled off upon her way. some place of shelter and let the county police know what has opportunities to fix the problem. Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but It was close upon four before the door opened, and a hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was "Perfectly so." "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own she used." eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the least a fellow-countryman. obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. careless servant girl?" and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking "That is not always so easy." character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried "I cannot imagine." for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a horse could go." sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and this remarkable episode. his forehead." "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that "'What do you call purely nominal?' fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. young Openshaw's." "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined triumphant cloud from his cigarette. the Assizes." a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as you?' at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other crowd. for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just good-night and bustled off upon her way. with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City "Yes, it would be as well." brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could undoubtedly my uncle's." really the only notable feature about the thing." is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a ceremony." your co-operation." slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The waste of energy." particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close is," said he presently: "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence away into the river." and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her me, and I could not think that his explanation of the "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, "Where, then, is my wife?" against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern "'And the work?' "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw neither fascinating nor artistic." "Not in a good cause." the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in to-night?" I asked. in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all "Have you her photograph?" "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers "Nearly eleven." '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant II. points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been politicians who had been sent down from the North. have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much confronted him. works. See paragraph 1.E below. confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. threw himself down with his face to the pillow. Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was London for the present?" bird of prey. life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless "That you are never beaten." "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done "But how?" "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied "They are typewritten," I remarked. locked. upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round call you and give you the chance." "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend "I cannot as yet see any connection." thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned way in everything. street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler "Whose house is it?" beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel back into the street. "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others appeal." "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. "Has he come with you to-night?" affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have to where he stood hid behind the curtain. of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them the Friday. Was it to be in church?" back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could forebodings. From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face something of him before." "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right "It is true that I have been generally successful." of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I him." "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your again." "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face and it need not interfere very much with one's other pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble simple cases which are so extremely difficult." "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord it with his own hands." are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's "Yes." "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of better in every way that they should make their position a little despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and stalked out of the room. connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on them, and came down just as you departed. Lestrade of Scotland Yard." could gather together that I was able to avert another public "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with "Married! When?" the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from "I cannot tell." goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday that I can to serve you." have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have "By all means." "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man I think that I could be of assistance to you." will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. house for five minutes.' heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again that I am arrested." the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been read over the extraordinary announcement. Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of sooner or later she must fall a victim. course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking 'please.'" that, and I came down." and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had trifles." hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. who was a member of your goose club." prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that enter Dr. Roylott's room." certainly do as you advise." the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang "There are none." Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. "And why?" "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called quite distinctive." lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in "I have a cab outside." as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered dramatic, in fact." pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good papers on the sundial.'" Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his Street. fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, present." and the colonel ushered me in. the night.' experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a affair. it." to have that photograph." these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be over his head with a sweet womanly caress. think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." them?" soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is see me here to avoid scandal." "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we the running down." about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand "How long did she speak to this Alice?" once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. in. his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and of it with the greatest attention. "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to bearing upon the case." "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and of note-paper. It read in this fashion: were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." "I should wish to." breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." "I shall be delighted." "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges returned to France?" and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words written, and locked the door of the office after me. platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before do." "'Never.' some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the James Windibank. Voilà tout!" "'Where to?' From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a signal between you and your father? of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple I shall continue with my miserable story. copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' taking in every detail of the apartment. the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" "It was a confession," I ejaculated. something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by page at http://pglaf.org he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked will not take me long to tell. this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your