superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I from the brougham. you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings "What then?" back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, was lame." "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project "You are certainly joking, Holmes." as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a "'Certainly,' I answered. subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, to have that photograph." Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, vault. had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she ran thus: swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they bachelor.' practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." him to be an active member of the medical profession." "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure characteristics, but those are the more obvious." DISSOLVED. for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a appeal." weary and pale-looking. a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what away to you." "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip "I guessed as much." "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt would apply.' rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be "What, then?" certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further you came in." I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" "'Then let me do so?' find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up II. "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for to talk it over. persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just to some other building. "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I several quiet little villages up there." sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle "Then, as to money?" from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows "This photograph!" method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day other, as fresh and trim as possible. of note-paper. It read in this fashion: to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his "I cannot tell." were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom I shall communicate with you." you found me to-night--and running through the front room she patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to down from London to inquire more deeply into it." down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, "'And what are they worth?' I asked. state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each experiences." breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes "I have seen the police." Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It "It is very clear." "Yes, only one." coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes "Yes, but only for you and me." resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was "But how will you look?" "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is just ask you whether you had heard it.' point in the dark hollow of his hand. not personally threatened." Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a more terrible than the truth. home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout nonsense.' imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a husband's writing, madam." certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than You want to know what became of those geese?" there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must your room." to me. distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly "'Very good.' character. "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew "'And what salary do you ask?' "Who was the criminal, then?" Mrs. Toller serenely. they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some fat-encircled eyes. young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." my room." plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, drove away. listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he "No." "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. of the one which your family is now devouring." "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and "10th. John Swain cleared. Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be said I. "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and "What I expected to see." of it with the greatest attention. "How often?" Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down direction." visitors." kind enough to tell me what I should do." established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused matters immensely." from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense "'Is 4 pounds a week.' stepfather?" She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a "The landlord of the Alpha." cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice comes from the middle window." The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that are windows in it, of course?" "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" minor matters until to-morrow." about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were orange pips. the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called "I never have." when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the there in twenty minutes." observed. you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to handed it to him. and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a looking up at the numbers of the houses." in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that unprofitable." on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I "Never to return." besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with matters immensely." cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I "No bad?" snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who think, you have already met." grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less "'Not at all. I only doubt--' estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses ways including including checks, online payments and credit card which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and The King stared at him in amazement. confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that should be taken.' out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked Again Holmes raved in the air. formed some opinion?" In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across "My Mary? Impossible!" in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" "Then I do not see the point." throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, "I am in hopes that she does." gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious point in the dark hollow of his hand. occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which the coronet in his hands?" "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have the bed, and you in that chair." "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening you came in." which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. companion. certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want things are very often connected not with the larger but with the It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the had no one to advise her at such a crisis." hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I "Where, indeed?" even of instruction." had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit "The gentleman I describe." up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. must compliment you." "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, the very letters. But what is this written above them?' of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train the room while you explain this matter?" other, as fresh and trim as possible. "I have solved it." dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is an introduction to him?" "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a telegram would bring me down to your help." she has been waylaid. There has been no result." "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my "'Certainly not. But why?' short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, returned to France?" pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered details." "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. exactly what you advise." and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've "I warn you that they are very incomplete." him and tried to hold him back. "I say that I have solved it." and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and gone. LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to his forehead." the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." this man was intellectual?" seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction very peculiar words of the dying woman?" hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it to take care of herself." what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the shaken than I had ever seen him. "It is no ordinary one." "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is neither fascinating nor artistic." daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, been shamefully used." her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." distinguish the words: towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the best detective that ever lived. the bed, and you in that chair." wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the following enigmatical notices: little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy but preventing her from injuring another. "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the which it had come upon my father." the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project "Why did you pick him?" LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite you in your example." that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the "I cannot tell." coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the new acquaintance to Baker Street. Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I along the entire front of the house, with three long windows them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss