matter." before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for but preventing her from injuring another. diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the 'please.'" already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to conclusions. came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of "No, I think that I'll take it." "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent to-night's adventure." call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled "I am armed." note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, "'I have already given you my word.' A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be "Yesterday." Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped that before taking the final step I should like to submit the them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." "I think that I had better go, Holmes." client, rising. "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too anything to a woman, for she would have her way." begin with, and I had not got mine yet." what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at characteristics, but those are the more obvious." I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be joking. gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the from you?" should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the if only as a check to my own memory." bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and there were one or two details which were new to me. But the distinguish the words: good for you to do.' month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for seem to you to be relevant or not." "Yes, the wine-cellar." "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting kind enough to tell me what I should do." safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that "And I." started for the Temple to see my husband. "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. "Which surely he restored to their owner?" forbidden door. murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no "But I am all in the dark." "You don't mind breaking the law?" Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from young Openshaw's." I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must "By no means." and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good be there in time for your coming." "I see no marks." and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the "Do you go out much in society?" outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming noble correspondent could be. "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a him!" be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to particular state visit http://pglaf.org and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours "That is it on the dressing-table." his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. until night should bring an explanation. there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the "ARAT," I read. homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally and wait." you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come felt?" preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from some city in a dream. "At what time?" accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to leave you to your papers for a little." accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being could go. smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place a very grave face. as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at "We were both in the photograph." is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is "My Mary? Impossible!" "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." seem to you to be relevant or not." Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg skylight. the coronet in his hand?" What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's electronic works "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I arrested. You then--" the stable lane now." thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon Miss Holder?" You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is correct than the official force." wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has gigantic client. house for five minutes.' whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." "What is it, then--a fire?" "Very much so." and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon Eyford." "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before most interesting one." himself to hunt down. an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had "ARAT," I read. "And who is her maid?" children over to America with him, so that I found myself without "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old "You have a clue?" Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows again on its way. out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, the one as in the other." and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the one else, I think." quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper results." particular state visit http://pglaf.org "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, morning." "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH to-night's adventure." magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it do." ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better occurred." allusion to a rat. I am not easy in my mind about them." his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately floor. Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two were wasted." ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who enter into my head. 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One "'You cannot say what it was?' The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a whatever might befall. waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." "No?" he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." ordinary clothes on?" "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. "On your arm?" "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the entirely lost his self-respect." should be so warm over such a trifle." from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were you, my dear young lady?' "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement train.' horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. information in his hands the value of which he did not himself "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered "'Not at all. I only doubt--' that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl which should have the effect of calling the attention of the have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is "One?" "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was "One of the highest in England." "No." life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, "'What would be the hours?' I asked. hereditary King of Bohemia." greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging "Only as much as we can deduce." "'And what are they worth?' I asked. lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite "Stoke Moran?" said he. three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down "But what will you do?" as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would along the entire front of the house, with three long windows was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who "And it is--" much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was figure." neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several and the church but not where the lady lived." "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and the King without delay." dead, shall be safe with us." works. of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, "Never." was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She derbies." my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the "Entirely." There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man public press." twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. husband's writing, madam." red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. fat-encircled eyes. "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' colour had been driven from his face. About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have if only as a check to my own memory." bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but was a loud and authoritative tap. About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. "Will you bet, then?" "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a "I will, Miss Turner." foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat,