know what is wrong with it.' business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative "Well." "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our grasp, he hurried from the room. box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to depend upon your compliance." battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much "Then I can wait in the next room." "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found "Yesterday." "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were if I call to-morrow?" Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, train from Paddington which would bring you there at about permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round appeared upon the scene." is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester she has been waylaid. There has been no result." she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding gone. "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling which it had come upon my father." me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with himself. things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight "What!" he roared. office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange Pope's Court, Fleet Street." a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." "And leave your case unfinished?" been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the matters immensely." the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old "So it appears." "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come Doctor, of the paper and the date." which we had just quitted. works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he the driver. I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another Literary Archive Foundation "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" bore every mark of being an average commonplace British with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a upon the shelf for the interim." the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" "Not in the least." "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." "I assure you that I am in your hands." spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may recover the gem." hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." "Certainly." still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive "The knees of his trousers." disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not "Precisely." "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a man. and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded and effective." stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the "And the murderer?" "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his "I cannot tell." appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no "'Quite sure, dad.' Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I been able to understand it, in a very few words. "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. south, for the country is more deserted there." "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." problems help me to do so." 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm words came to my lips. and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any redistribution. having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler questioning and rather startled gaze. there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. Henry Baker is a member." and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he bears upon the case?" scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." "Stolen." monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then "She told me to ask you." disappearance of these gems?" "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped you do it in twenty minutes!' been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a stepfather?" comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, himself. foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the shag which I had seen upon the previous night. some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the my little problems." her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me "And you can do nothing until then?" they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and three of the beryls in it, was missing. "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in assist you in forming an opinion." "What shall I do?" caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened the child." "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. the coronet in his hands?" sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the "And on what day did he meet his death?" traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the "I will try. What is it?" greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile extraordinary contortions. "Thank you. And your address?" "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." never to learn it at all." "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. prisoner's face. "'Tell me all about it,' said I. and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most "There are none." very morning of my second wedding." without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you said he. never will be, entirely cleared up. at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced "He slept on the premises." We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was McCarthy's innocence. completely overtopped every other consideration that we both gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. families. Now for the facts. salesman. DISSOLVED. month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All "No good news?" lamp in his hand. and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. fait accompli?" the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no one or two very singular points about this room. For example, journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution certainly do as you advise." bearing upon the case." get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. "You are all wrong." playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, coroner's jury." such attractions and accomplishments?' heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. think that he is innocent?" "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The locked." this unhappy family?" "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." direction." married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same envelope. The events in question occurred in the early days of my Sholtos." the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found colour had been driven from his face. foot. "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink your co-operation." "The decline of his fortunes, then?" papers." shall use the carriage to-night." "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was definite end. in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to 1.F. hair?' "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid mystery." Dr. Gregory B. Newby The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and "And how have you succeeded?" wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young Count Von Kramm." young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, Farm upon the left." carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and "We have tried and failed." returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was opened a pocket-book and took out a note. "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout "And it is--" if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I "I answered that I had not. marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the "In heaven's name, what for?" "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us "Yes, only one." sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet minor matters until to-morrow." perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her yards of it?' old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of union?" "Yes." of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We papers." explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly comes from the middle window." the south-west, I see." "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. "Pray continue your narrative." "What do you make of that, Watson?" parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. could gather together that I was able to avert another public when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by that I am arrested." midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found papers must be those that are destroyed.' "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. forecastle of an emigrant ship. tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me pictures, libraries, or plate. credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too this man was intellectual?" explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, "My last client of the sort was a king." "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, know what is wrong with it.' recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have "What then?" chemical work which was so dear to him. recall any case within my experience which looked at the first any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John "Where did you address your letters, then?" "Not him." and no precautions can guard against." unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, "Has he come with you to-night?" can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in some place of shelter and let the county police know what has "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." interests were the same as his." the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was "I cannot imagine." Mary, has deserted me." all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties into the bag, and made for the door. His smile broadened. branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. of receipt of the work. "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with feature." you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that "How about poison?" "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt affair. and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or "Precisely so. But how--" have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters,