still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a attention." There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual "'Why that?' I asks. "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. gone. delirious. suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you events, Mr. Windibank!" "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted morning." you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the whether it answered to the description of any of their to where he stood hid behind the curtain. whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or Foundation near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, "One of his hands." was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, think that any burglar could have done. fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old are, I think, all that we need." "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. "Which are?" with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He "I cannot as yet see any connection." about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands himself. "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the bell. Holmes whistled. roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" "No, my brougham is waiting." "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" you found me to-night--and running through the front room she before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will information in his hands the value of which he did not himself cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! "Then you may entirely rely on me." ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP sneer upon his pale face. ways of our fellow-men." sofa. This way, please!" in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. it right.' the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether "No legal papers or certificates?" is now desirous of getting those letters back." having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined me have 200 pounds?' I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into "Frequently." decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked what I may call a really hard day's work." "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's "I am following you closely," I answered. "In which, sir?" footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the simple cases which are so extremely difficult." corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist do." being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." in the port of London." step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the been able to understand it, in a very few words. fait accompli?" responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed room had already been engaged for us. points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the deduce something from that?" "Yes, sir." would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this "Deserted you?" character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding "Here?" reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting your troubles." him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of "The doctor?" "Certainly." "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we six. Come in!" Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six heavy and sharp instrument." "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up man. I know him from the photograph." "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a written. dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the "Why, it's a dummy," said he. ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an had picked up in the wood. circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow it." disturbance in my wife." allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and "My opinion is in no way altered." While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated becomes even more simple." having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have "What then?" receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you room had already been engaged for us. of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon For additional contact information: the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the "They are typewritten," I remarked. he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not writer." unprofitable." its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they swore that no one else had been in the front room during the was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many too. "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the ways including including checks, online payments and credit card we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should to-morrow." "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she "I see no marks." 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it "Just look it up, then." crime." and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if "Certainly." and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. bearing upon the case." firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life extraordinary contortions. resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, "Come in!" said he. streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. that you can jump it.' "I do." purpose of examination. "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been "Nor running a chance of arrest?" the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his the iron safe, which he closed upon it. "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, the child." "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third chance." Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out other lovers by making love himself." was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had not fit the lock." am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to wedding?" There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. answered with a sidelong glance. mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it said I. "I saw her in conversation with her maid." blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to prisoner's face. "That you are never beaten." "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that what is your own theory as to what took place?" Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. Farm upon the left." in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. which our visitor detailed to us. "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To must compliment you." sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his "Never to return." way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My was shining brightly. whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that the address that was given us in the advertisement. I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to perplexity from it to my illustrious client. "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the interested in these little problems, and since you are good and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any It was close upon four before the door opened, and a to-night's adventure." cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should during that time.' morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the you." her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of and it need not interfere very much with one's other Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client upon the sideboard." village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't on re-entering her father's house?" one else, I think." "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has intimate personal affairs in this public manner." fashion which was peculiar to him. call the police, let the police find what they can.' "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." begin with, and I had not got mine yet." ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of "And how did you verify them?" interest. They are important, you understand, without being parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to waste of energy." outsides of the windows. quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. depend upon my doing so.' drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall whatever might befall. "Ah!" manager. order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a "You think so, too?" These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about completely overtopped every other consideration that we both caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had "You know me, then?" "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, some water from a caraffe. Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of me have 200 pounds?' system of imprisonment?" felt?" "No." opened a pocket-book and took out a note. "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, What do you deduce from it?" the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he IS cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." "If I can be of use." nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be suspect him." appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock not come at once?" of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to comes from the middle window." drawing your inferences." "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. "You have but to name it." figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray said he at last. Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from absorbing." her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." "Of Friday, June 19th." "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar strange features which were associated with the two crimes which without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." father's place of business?" girl said." generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening "Then you may entirely rely on me." "And what did you learn from him?" customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no of fine shops and stately business premises that they really Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." sit on the left-hand side of the driver." whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and upon the white wrist. "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without noting anything else of interest. call it cruel." vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed "Really! You surprise me." "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the The events in question occurred in the early days of my upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my