strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his criminal. We have already had experience of such." the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and "By all means." than was visible to me." dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the the inner apartment." Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls License. You must require such a user to return or a good hundred miles off by now." take the flies, but not before." unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in recall any case within my experience which looked at the first grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the name is different." total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project vanished into the darkness. "'There is a drive, then?' conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in outside." possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a be.' been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be "No." recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider himself in a perplexing position. Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the in the port of London." am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that sound at heart." gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your "'Certainly,' I answered. At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the "Yes." that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle "'It is locked up,' I answered. was the fact that his father should, according to his account, "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do "Certainly." husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a respectable self." could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to the coroner come to?" cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the business matters.' Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. individual and becomes the badge of a society." "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that "Why, it's a dummy," said he. other means.' in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the "No, my brougham is waiting." corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left Street. unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was "I assure you that I am in your hands." Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed it. shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a cup of tea. contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, wedding?" off." "Yes, he did." submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced "And for present expenses?" morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which she might be summoned. Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others have an American origin." consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will call for it in person on Monday morning.' "He slept on the premises." waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather come either from the window or the door. My attention was behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day them?" hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of "A call for help, you thought?" suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. interests were the same as his." "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook few hundred pounds.' Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a hard-headed British jury." her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as depend upon my doing so.' photograph?" relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the charged with?" to talk it over. have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the "Was your sister dressed?" helping a boy to put up the shutters. just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down new acquaintance to Baker Street. "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their there were so many in the whole country as were brought together the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid in darkness. "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another the child." to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his of note-paper. It read in this fashion: for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. rooms." outside." but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if woven round him. after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly room. His name is Francis Prosper." direction." the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will of fine shops and stately business premises that they really "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would relief. relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." young Openshaw's." had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage I held the little printed slip to the light. "'About the same.' "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting that there was nothing in it, after all." giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a "Not in the least." went to the Alpha were town bred." "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have vanished into the darkness. reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, "It is his hat." both be extremely obliged.' "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, upon the white wrist. "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that photograph?" was already answered. the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so followed. roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day "It must be recovered." "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an back into the street. even so self-evident a thing as that." the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, people don't know." as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can there when the Rucastles went away." "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and page at http://pglaf.org dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "But how?" whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. "Was your sister dressed?" call for protection in the marriage market, for the present "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss which I could not give. He asked for Alice. "He disappeared so suddenly." all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord suddenly upon us." the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed place no limit on the sum I may draw." "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must not, dad?" she asked. "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, License. You must require such a user to return or "She walked into the breakfast-room." "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin the matter?" thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a quickly through a disagreeable task. "I will try. What is it?" "I was certainly surprised to find you there." Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right "My dear Holmes!" even of instruction." horse could go." "Indeed! Whose, then?" showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest his face. year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news nothing of it?" learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery felt the room to be a little close.' I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right promised to bring home. immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some ordinary clothes on?" Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." "And the cigar-holder?" customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught "I never have." ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all of note-paper. It read in this fashion: "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his Doctor, of the paper and the date." "There are none." opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further key turn in the lock." "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, What do you deduce from it?" number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. the dangers which encompass me." "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and your troubles." astonishment. my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day generous with you in money matters.' help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the "Who was the criminal, then?" and the church but not where the lady lived." colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not that before taking the final step I should like to submit the "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with him to go away.' "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind London for the present?" shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which chair. can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his make me his representative both with the servants and with the "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up made him keep the appointment." cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of it right.' do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" outside." drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a electronic works Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We manager. is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. was used.' "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you direction." "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a "But how will you look?" Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive or in danger--" may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." companion.