upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the photograph?" only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and works. See paragraph 1.E below. we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such front of the hall door has given its name to the place. all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from off." "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered "I see no marks." folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" "By no means." the one as in the other." passage and a tap at the door. examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw quick march!" "'Certainly,' I answered. first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he think that any burglar could have done. look dissatisfied." breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and so.' "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a "And the cigar-holder?" his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. to some other building. and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into appeared upon the scene." "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and pity, because in other respects you would really have done very stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as "'Very good.' "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the was once confined in the cab my mission was practically "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was swore that no one else had been in the front room during the "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single What do you deduce from it?" "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if "But what is it you wish?" and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the where Mr. Fordham shows you.' a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an the child." Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his of receipt of the work. four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he to you." the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without quick march!" return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I definite end. asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror must compliment you." "My private note-paper." "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. "You are hungry," I remarked. Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I brandy and water within his reach. with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to "I am about to be married." intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of within hail.' "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third "It is to him that this trophy belongs." "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added "May I see it?" "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave noise which awoke you from your sleep?" if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us nonsense.' from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken me. We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed than to us. certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a "Have you it here?" your bag." about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, hardly wander." "Was he the only applicant?" dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we Pope's Court, Fleet Street." possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. "Where is it, then?" which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in fuss that is made over them." unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly redistribution. attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the upon the shelf for the interim." moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not "Did you observe the colour?" would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a is now desirous of getting those letters back." being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water "Yes." grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three "Very truly yours, contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." house for five minutes.' we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there of note-paper. It read in this fashion: overpowering excitement and concern. "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been and capable of preserving a secret.' but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" case-book, which he consulted. and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near "Certainly." the King without delay." I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" chair. "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was prisoner's face. dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the "'Yes, sir.' ran thus: eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' room had already been engaged for us. eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to useful material for showing traces. The double line a little began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from "And the cigar-holder?" gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with there was no need for father to know." Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San trying to your nerves." "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" "Yes?" "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the 'please.'" occupations.' made his money." "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. shaken than I had ever seen him. villagers almost as much as their master. met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at in his power. before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the occurred." of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit "Deserted you?" Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which go from here to the Strand." his eyes and forehead. "None. Neville wrote those words." between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" disappearance of these gems?" and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" system of imprisonment?" Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We open." impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a thirty. breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. the dangers which encompass me." us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I detained." "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found "Yes, only one." too. against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could "Perhaps we may make them less so." "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." "I would pay ten." the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do ill-usage at the hands of fortune. of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and thin legs towards the fire. bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no "Yes?" the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors placed his cuttings. our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted "No, but the enclosure is." then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' this poor creature." "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such "Did you become engaged then?" "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, shoulder. tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss geese which you supplied to the Alpha." in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of "No, my brougham is waiting." "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship orange pips. quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like "What can it mean?" I gasped. Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." "Yesterday." "Eh? What was that?" pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." "Was she in good spirits?" reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this "Will you go?" would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a "A thing like a cleaver," said he. drawing your inferences." This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was "It is no ordinary one." of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, beg that you will break it off." "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for gives a meaning to it." all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon said I. in a friendly supper." away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which you found me to-night--and running through the front room she "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a "'Yes, I promise.' all that?" happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. Does that suggest anything?" outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. with frightened eyes at his accuser. "But you were on a friendly footing?" thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his she used." undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If plantation.' Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your "No." poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his one's self under obligations.' "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." better grown goose." chamber." even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very such attractions and accomplishments?' feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, only touch the interest." and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at searched, without anything being found which could incriminate sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, allusion to a rat. had a long day." empty. from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in feature." me have 200 pounds?' significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance your equipment. ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." page at http://pglaf.org "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate "What I expected to see." "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. question you as to those details which seem to me to be most hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out said Mr. Holder. her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her may have an influence upon European history." and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such