Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one "I say that I have solved it." "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some "Well?" "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east upon the shelf for the interim." array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and of fine shops and stately business premises that they really labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. Farm upon the left." beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my happened." There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which I leave." "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, most important business. It is probable that he will be away all "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" your sleep?' distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of "In which, sir?" "But his left-handedness." into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of more solid." about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then "'Yes, I promise.' me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my call for it in person on Monday morning.' continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into here and I will read it to you: but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which is acting for the best. quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it "One of his hands." even so self-evident a thing as that." her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to call for it in person on Monday morning.' "Very truly yours, knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and anything to do with the matter?" directors have had misgivings upon the subject." a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. "Thank you. Pray proceed." written, and locked the door of the office after me. expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have Mary, has deserted me." you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. that there was nothing in it, after all." to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, "The Coroner: What do you mean? and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew respectable self." "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this "So it appears." 'please.'" poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I meant." way in." me have 200 pounds?' than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either "Of what day?" It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had formed some opinion?" "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an "Precisely." his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have "You were travelling in the States?" thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement looking up at the numbers of the houses." To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like "Yes, I have one waiting." "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we your own bird, so if you wish--" disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they mysterious business." sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my if she died from some sudden fright." my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such seen the man in the road." silent! Oh, he will be silent!' "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be "Yes, there are nearly always some there." his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it future lives." Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he DAMAGE. read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after Street. "Only as much as we can deduce." widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too to his chemical studies. the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is pressing in one house as in another. then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable "That is possible." "You are all wrong." "I fear not." terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and than to us. my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was cost them two and thirty pounds." branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods the coronet at all injured?" certainly not very gracious." once more. "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. nothing with him." said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his cigar and let me expound." 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever when you have done it." there when the Rucastles went away." greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm "Is he quiet?" frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an "But how did you gain them?" About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, neither fascinating nor artistic." thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his sit on the left-hand side of the driver." "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. "No." be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, "And why?" half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! in a friendly supper." "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered way in everything. "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between events than those which have happened in my own family." foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last was a perfect sample of the class. staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had The telegram which we eventually received came late one night his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have the coronet in his hand?" The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I I think that I could be of assistance to you." the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a "Witness: It was. entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself friend's singular character. Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the "We were both in the photograph." heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the that before taking the final step I should like to submit the dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a eat it." hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up "A thing like a cleaver," said he. work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. 1.F. day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is him and tried to hold him back. "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events the matter?" "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. "But he might be a bachelor." prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular him to go away.' The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his spark where all is dark to me." "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she it." "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest dear old homesteads?" wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid "You forget that I know nothing about it." slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, too. simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying hurried away. sooner or later she must fall a victim. mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry existence." have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as six. Come in!" "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a "You will not go there first?" ready to-morrow?' "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or hour?' practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more writers could invent nothing more crude." brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will several quiet little villages up there." "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless me. You must get home instantly and act." of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an despaired of." "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction one's self under obligations.' insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. to-night?" I asked. feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to "The landlord of the Alpha." upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is "At the wedding breakfast." ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, "Ten will be early enough." solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he "Pray let us have it, for all that." was the fact that his father should, according to his account, may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between people in all walks of life. other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it "But you have hopes?" if she died from some sudden fright." little trying to do so much typewriting?" the best of training." be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after "I will not look." "I cannot imagine." "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. very peculiar words of the dying woman?" face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for the devil!" villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to dear old homesteads?" a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, someone who had been in Australia." journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream six. Come in!" "You are hungry," I remarked. perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly the so-precious time, but come!' "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk prisoner's face. his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I to that open window." the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan now. It seems that there had been some informality about their "The rest you will leave in our hands." at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss "It is half-past ten now." "None. Neville wrote those words." no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to "She will not sell." struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots should be taken.' the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side dates and names. morning." with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to such person." "I am to be neutral?" commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, "I have my revolver," said I. statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault garden below. leaning back in his chair. there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come Arthur Conan Doyle purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest point our research must commence, and we will begin it by call the police, let the police find what they can.' at my own good fortune. Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus Holmes' face clouded over. one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling made his money." as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself