Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and James Windibank. Voilà tout!" something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." "And how have you succeeded?" little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, "Then you may be so with me." train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in coroner's jury." "None." About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been "'Oh, no.' fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being "You have a clue?" humiliation." as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography I was concerned in it." "One horse?" interjected Holmes. will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of that there was nothing in it, after all." to change my dress. have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH vanished into the darkness. "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of His smile broadened. front of the hall door has given its name to the place. least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your to you." respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I "Where did you address your letters, then?" ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy "No, finished." compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to easy-going way." purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the in your London, you will know that the office of the company is "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a this remarkable episode. she might be summoned. it means?" extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the just ask you whether you had heard it.' "Proceed, then." But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would and put his glass in his pocket. and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the it right.' Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there again, where I was soon asleep. SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any "Yes." written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were "That is possible." which was all perfectly true. street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of the coroner come to?" stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many me. You must get home instantly and act." you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" copied or distributed: the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, had formerly been in part my own. interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, noise which awoke you from your sleep?" Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been depend upon my doing so.' through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, to affect your life." successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. "Was there a secret marriage?" "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a ill-usage at the hands of fortune. light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be hardly wander." flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." once more on the important position which you have been fortunate nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' four million human beings all jostling each other within the home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a the bed, and you in that chair." snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. meant." "A thing like a cleaver," said he. he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my "In answer to an advertisement." of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen are, and they are waiting for us." if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was posted to-day." unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal room had already been engaged for us. him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you was shining brightly. "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is never came back." wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the one or two very singular points about this room. For example, yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly the devil!" "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter "Did your wife hear all this?" photograph?" black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose sit on the left-hand side of the driver." "But you were on a friendly footing?" many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. to Leatherhead. direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. You can understand that this register and diary may implicate furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. with frightened eyes at his accuser. an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder You can understand that this register and diary may implicate down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the "What have you to say now?" "Oh, the cause is excellent!" "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do "He is dead," cried several voices. "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before again before evening." putting in the horse. Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to crowd. her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very "By no means." boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest not fit the lock." Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled during the last few years, and there are many noble families to "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' crime." long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would I was concerned in it." entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action "What then?" engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where waste of energy." and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, "'And the work?' other means.' and have this put in the evening papers." than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit "And you can do nothing until then?" first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my intimate personal affairs in this public manner." an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if you." wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that bell. Holmes whistled. highly," said Holmes. down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran "I would pay ten." and have this put in the evening papers." the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a wall." served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of "It surprised me." "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense "What have you done?" asked Holmes. son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured the Red-headed League." "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms "What!" he roared. photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' laugh and put his lips to my ear. stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a do." to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad placed his cuttings. train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last ashen face. practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. "But you have hopes?" acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs could gather together that I was able to avert another public analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each least a fellow-countryman. from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded "On Monday." passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. "My last client of the sort was a king." ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." second." fluttered off among the others. There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham question. finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was "I saw her in conversation with her maid." felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set "It must be recovered." "Come in!" said Holmes. Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. memory. her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable distance from the station, and there we found the young lady young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a with some details as to your case." "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. "I say that I have solved it." I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from to where he stood hid behind the curtain. "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming three fields round his house, and there he would take his "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and his knees, staring into the fire. of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you "But he might be a bachelor." dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly will take you up to see the machine.' with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the mystery." upon an income of about 60 pounds." "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to "He might." lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank get the tickets." is four-and-twenty." common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which "Where, then?" "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, in your London, you will know that the office of the company is breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the yourselves in at night?" glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, "And what did you learn from him?" he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand said Mr. Holder. iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is The summons was a brief and urgent one. "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, "Did your wife hear all this?" "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power that you wished to speak to me?' "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is "If I can be of use." stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. "An accident, I presume?" which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told breakfast?" man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which it." He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." she slowly sank and died without having recovered her have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We "Who by?" "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss read over the extraordinary announcement. feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his "Perfectly so." Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic a very grave face. There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and there in twenty minutes." "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, "Then he might have called to you?" conduct the inquiry." the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it once more on the important position which you have been fortunate cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. when your master had gone out." matter." "The landlord of the Alpha." copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled business." address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case "I was sure that I might rely on you." married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was writers could invent nothing more crude." after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him Where does the thing come from?' "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I "So I am. Very much so." hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too