the devil!" from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see my friend's incisive reasoning. red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must whole matter to your consideration." distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. "Was there a secret marriage?" the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the very old mansion. "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered out." "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may "In heaven's name, what for?" slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's respectable self." fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." other, as fresh and trim as possible. orange pips. back alive. "He might." and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect lids now and glanced across at his visitor. my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat you give your casting vote to?" age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, and capable of preserving a secret.' be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." meanly of me." he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the forebodings. if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible the bottom.' afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg "I cannot tell." "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me once more to my work. but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings drove away. sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, to arrive at through this?" Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of "He is dead," cried several voices. would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, threw himself down with his face to the pillow. abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the "If so, much may have happened between." rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the "Will you go?" "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at "How did he come?" this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My weapon." floor. are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of at once, for I have only half an hour." to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." Henry Baker is a member." Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that least a fellow-countryman. "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for room had already been engaged for us. "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler where she found matters as described by the last witness. "It was a confession," I ejaculated. we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for "I would pay ten." behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. room had already been engaged for us. "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said entirely lost his self-respect." and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to back into the street. its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and felt?" upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from have accepted such a situation. strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, have had none more fantastic than this." presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a "What?" more terrible than the truth. hardly wander." chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss crime." "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I do.' "It is half-past ten now." of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock "I see no marks." "The doctor?" last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the His smile broadened. at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and imbecility!" he cried. possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. memory. insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell "What shall I do?" this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a what do you think they found in the pockets?" "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where interests were the same as his." ceremony." to tackle the facts." himself in a perplexing position. affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor once more for Briony Lodge. observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was "And what did you see?" lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a quickly through a disagreeable task. there!' was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll "That's no good." that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily that before taking the final step I should like to submit the place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried "I was certainly surprised to find you there." accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage the side-table." quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the back to my heart. which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it generous with you in money matters.' Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years "It is his hat." for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for business." important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, "You have a clue?" chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after "From his hat?" feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were "It was a confession," I ejaculated. "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she "At what time?" doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I "Nothing?" business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set answer." Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and should be so warm over such a trifle." of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his http://gutenberg.net/license). to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would weighed down with some great anxiety. c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, Sholtos." late!' dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the Farm upon the left." I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business Street. "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud "What, then, did Peterson do?" a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, "You have the photograph?" LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my do.' "But how will you look?" have not had my rubber." behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for perplexity from it to my illustrious client. with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. to his chemical studies. "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each John Swain, of St. Augustine. Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to throat." "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your License. You must require such a user to return or Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together "That was it, sir." "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only Pope's Court, Fleet Street." "He is dead," cried several voices. question," said Holmes, smiling. very morning of my second wedding." that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door colonel looking down at me. at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The main points of my analysis." male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the Project Gutenberg-tm works. slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without that I am arrested." guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of that you saw all that I did." and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which it right.' "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor "It may not come to that," said Holmes. fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might foresight and the moral retrogression?" disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out "That's no good." acquaintance?" A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said that before taking the final step I should like to submit the my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a DISSOLVED. quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and your co-operation." showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this my secret was safe in his possession. "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features upon the sideboard." call it cruel." a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you the coronet in his hands?" not fit the lock." stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. made him keep the appointment." "'Entirely.' "Yes." Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. "Certainly." and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of Project Gutenberg-tm works. significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he "The murder was done with it." have been better. It is all right." that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." front of the hall door has given its name to the place. sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had system of imprisonment?" them, and came down just as you departed. "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had "Yes." have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem mysterious business." "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a "What then?" Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend during which he might have communicated with his friend the papers diligently of late, have you not?" remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. think that he is innocent?" to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, James Windibank. Voilà tout!" guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my on re-entering her father's house?" "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it "Here?" not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and "Perhaps I have." gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the "Eh? What was that?" spark where all is dark to me." "What shall I do?" observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as "'I shall certainly be there.' very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." case-book, which he consulted. which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend "But I have heard all that you have heard." august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the pity, because in other respects you would really have done very the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,