fire. You quite follow me?" probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it weapon." "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked this truth that in these little records of our cases which you another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we "Witness: It was. for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself way in everything. all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that annoyance, but no jest. am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant vault. at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a "The rest you will leave in our hands." My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love was keenly on my guard against him. 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. against a man in the prime of life?" black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. forebodings. back to my heart. The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his arrangements." should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" and all of them with the keenest interest. might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining read it out to me." once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually be best to do. house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the "The landlord of the Alpha." Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises held up the lantern and gazed about him. this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of "Your French gold?" and wait." overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up "Yes." the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that what do you think they found in the pockets?" "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave wedding?" "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking upon the shelf for the interim." man. I know him from the photograph." stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a "It may not come to that," said Holmes. might help us?" is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the telegram would bring me down to your help." "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for "'There is a drive, then?' "You'll never persuade me to believe that." It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" visitors." upon the shelf for the interim." "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may "And now?" He raised his hand. time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of narrative." answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It "'As governess?' "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are "Precisely so. But how--" imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his chance at all." He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided the child." half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head have got?" "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I disturbance in my wife." 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & observed. connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing "And on what day did he meet his death?" silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is you in yours." The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" entirely lost his self-respect." article?" suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the mystery." "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural Holmes." client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can infinite languor in his face. were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? "'And what are they worth?' I asked. unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a "When did it break out?" a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that triumphant cloud from his cigarette. "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of papers." silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep outsides of the windows. unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little "Certainly." came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. is four-and-twenty." he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, character. "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." approach us with offers to donate. sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window "Have you it here?" Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it "Yes." moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as "Entirely." would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the empty. often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See "That you are never beaten." points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous "BALLARAT." was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. noting anything else of interest. year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which I nodded to show that I had heard. Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it signal between you and your father? foresight and the moral retrogression?" the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" "At what time?" screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal of." five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but the one as in the other." "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. "Why? What do you mean?" "What steps will you take?" I asked. the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding charged with?" you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil and a shock of very red hair. "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. writing, and yet I know it well." like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in you in your example." no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between "His face fell immediately. upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his "VIOLET HUNTER." Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person begin with, and I had not got mine yet." insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a completely overtopped every other consideration that we both frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is "'I am sure that I do not know.' "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what quickly through a disagreeable task. especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a several quiet little villages up there." What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, "Where is it, then?" "One of the highest in England." landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods "You think so, too?" together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. everything which you would wish to know." in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman "The knees of his trousers." to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, Clair, of Lee." product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at "And who is her maid?" the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I again before evening." despair." "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third to miss it." and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the little adventures." with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In back to my heart. "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed "What!" he roared. himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all "I cannot imagine." should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until for securing the situation." incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am "Can I be of assistance?" known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman good-night and bustled off upon her way. utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small off." also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and Pope's Court, Fleet Street." pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, shag which I had seen upon the previous night. you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a Holmes' thin, eager face. neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case "I will not look." endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, "It is his hat." "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he "And your mother is alive?" strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were this as likely?" his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some quite distinctive." people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not I. to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea business came to an end." distinguish the words: such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my it with his own hands." "How long did she speak to this Alice?" that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had "What office?" "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were that he will be back before evening." "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the against a man in the prime of life?" "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to with her." both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the "'Is 4 pounds a week.' would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a highly," said Holmes. We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a money should be paid at once.' here." in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might the matter?" believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his "Her father is very rich?" but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without "None." "And on what day did he meet his death?" morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her "I say that I have solved it." "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare "Then you may entirely rely on me." seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the Sutherland?" for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back "That is not always so easy." skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I "'Certainly not.' and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly upon an income of about 60 pounds." the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in there." then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. "How did that help you?" business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and Countess of Morcar's?" "'It is locked up,' I answered. "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of is so. I know all about McCarthy." "'Which dealer's?' of the way of danger. "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the young Openshaw's." frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just