voice, changing her seat as requested. "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, gone. actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at client, rising. bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the status with the IRS. sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send soul! here is her carriage at the door." pound a week." towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his Gutenberg-tm License. grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the strength of mind to control. in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't "Yes." over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I troubles have been weighing upon his mind. "'Yes, I promise.' of Fenchurch Street." "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his asked. what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers was not a bird to be seen there. be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to during that time.' "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had swore that no one else had been in the front room during the postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece Pope's Court. "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated "Deserted you?" "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could Sholtos." cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was strange features which were associated with the two crimes which brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had "One horse?" interjected Holmes. in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential more solid." and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that "Then, how do you know?" and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the "Yes." He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective case before our client came into the room." salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All were wasted." His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he works. See paragraph 1.E below. five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the "Yes, from Horsham." came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." look upon these things in a different way." morning." "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one "I shall most certainly do so." seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your everything which you would wish to know." Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or any more." "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." delighted to hear it," he said. was not a bird to be seen there. Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to get the tickets." dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we "To the police?" bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not room?" over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given anything to do with the matter?" inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. crime. saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train "Yes, all." "And who is her maid?" he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to "You have it, sir, just as it happened." assist you in forming an opinion." ran thus: Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with returning from some small jollification and was making his way outside. astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you call you and give you the chance." said I. the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when you understand?" coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is other means.' "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." in this note: you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. "What?" "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the wedding?" About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a business came to an end." "I cannot tell." compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his "I do." a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father not come at once?" on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. papers." leave you to your papers for a little." by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project "I will get her to show me." if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a had a long day." case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking is now desirous of getting those letters back." "Thank you. Pray proceed." nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the way: over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was note?" "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water "The Coroner: What do you mean? "Yes." "'Certainly,' I answered. "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked not within a twentieth part of the market price." "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to 1.E.9. "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, arrested. You then--" indeed happy." "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down "Pray do so." attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At "No, I am descending." "But how?" affection." the salesman. hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim legal crime." interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address be there in time for your coming." weapon." an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we papers on the sundial.'" husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY business." slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard "Were they all fastened this morning?" is," said he presently: brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his "And how in the world did you find them?" painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler the morning and make my own way in the world.' she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion "'Is 4 pounds a week.' face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. "But his lameness?" The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do "Were they all fastened this morning?" "None." tail." "I cannot think." "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, "Why did you beat the pavement?" betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and McCarthy's innocence. so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon "Yes." his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the "I cannot think." more solid." your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or "Never to return." instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that observed. "Was he the only applicant?" sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my troubles have been weighing upon his mind. she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. shall not find me ungrateful." known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that "How do you know, then?" twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." "'It is locked up,' I answered. lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her depend upon your compliance." "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he the inquest, and which are worth considering." very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, fattened it expressly for you.' Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. weapon." and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you Mrs. Toller serenely. suddenly upon us." "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the outside. have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite new duties?' to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in "'I have already given you my word.' "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I it were putty." hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming get her out of the way." goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a generous with you in money matters.' "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated front of me. "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in started for the Temple to see my husband. "Who by?" of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. good for you to do.' to talk it over. persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had but preventing her from injuring another. some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" villagers almost as much as their master. he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." happened." acquaintance?" the devil!" "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind "Look there!" said he. of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when threw himself down with his face to the pillow. with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. question. possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature His smile broadened. terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he "'Is purely nominal.' an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we to-night?" I asked. said he. surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of "I am still in the dark." reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for fattened it expressly for you.' at my own good fortune. from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. read over the extraordinary announcement. I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his points to suicide?" "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive tension within him. "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There him. moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible "A greater distance to travel." where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. there has been an enclosure here!" "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. "And help." presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to forehead. It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful Holmes. said Mr. Holder. arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal "To an end?" to have been novel and of interest." and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing