little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come society." electronic works vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." "I think it very unlikely." "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I works. laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." the house with me." who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a sofa. This way, please!" "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be "This concluded the examination of the witness." I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of them?" tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever "I am still in the dark." time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was points in connection with it which never have been, and probably his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, will find little credit to be gained out of this case." man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, country, and eventually married, without anyone having a see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making "Her father is very rich?" returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness "At what time?" drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how "The murder was done with it." since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez "What will you say?" were new raised from a basin. her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never your co-operation." your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds "Certainly." red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they security.' and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just get her out of the way." "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that floor. "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a I took the paper from him and read as follows: "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very third from London." the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave "'What, the red-headed man?' 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" test if we have an answer to our advertisement." to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." "Your French gold?" wanted for ourselves." prove to be little relation between the different incidents of paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the such person." Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another "What steps will you take?" I asked. to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole questioning and rather startled gaze. "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue "Do you know him?" "Was there a secret marriage?" Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was sofa. This way, please!" look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush "Quite so. She has her freedom." covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his she might be summoned. which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are "Game for a morning drive?" of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and attention." following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last "She walked into the breakfast-room." that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." the general public were present, then?" upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that friends, not even his own brother. throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at "Pray be precise as to details," said he. hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't written. weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: golden eyeglasses. strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who "May I see it?" the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave "A greater distance to travel." and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the "How many? I don't know." lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every Holmes rather sternly. classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of begun to whiten, even as mine has." enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He frequently gained my first real insight into the character of from the brougham. this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we salesman. 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send could not have written that. It is the German who is so friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head morning." that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed which are rolled in Rotterdam." The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different "What can you not understand?" not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** room had already been engaged for us. from you?" "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can "Pray let us have it, for all that." they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I "You don't mind breaking the law?" something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the sound at heart." that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his could not account in any way for the presence of the missing green of the new foliage. helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to Have you good authority for what you say?" few hundred pounds.' extraordinary contortions. these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the the window, rose as we entered. "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. hour?' time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if case-book, which he consulted. "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our "Well." At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and again before evening." notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was redistribution. I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were searched, without anything being found which could incriminate dear old homesteads?" my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of of Mr. Rucastle's." "I cannot imagine." believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." infinite languor in his face. at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, there were one or two details which were new to me. But the horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar clang of the bell. little adventures." Sholtos." something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the appointment with me for six o'clock?" relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was as he remarks, very much against the son." fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do "You horrify me." forbidden door. and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most quickly through a disagreeable task. wedding?" unkempt, staring out at me. promised to bring home. and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." very old mansion. telegram would bring me down to your help." could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass the stones. the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would noting anything else of interest. his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from "That is easily got." do.' He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall beyond words. "No, but the enclosure is." "But I am all in the dark." of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might "I should like to see him very much." "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard Sutherland. to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which too. thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped "Yes." new acquaintance to Baker Street. heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I out." them present such singular features as the strange train of held up the lantern and gazed about him. London for the present?" well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to in a friendly supper." "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. or in danger--" already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." again, where I was soon asleep. world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my drawing your inferences." passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The good for you to do.' daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain Eyford at 11:15.' very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and "One?" strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you a good hundred miles off by now." I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose room. 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I chance at all." "Where did you address your letters, then?" of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. served to weaken the effect. ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my Doctor, of the paper and the date." became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy dead, shall be safe with us." that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, "I cannot tell." unkempt, staring out at me. Stoke Moran." the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." wall." after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the morning." London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which "I would give my fortune to have them back." Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of my special province." went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. down from London to inquire more deeply into it." undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my woman." earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural into her hand at the door and which lured her within their respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on as yours." "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It simple cases which are so extremely difficult." frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, "He might." precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied fire. You quite follow me?" shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." enter Dr. Roylott's room." "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and crowd. said I. the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the one else, I think." "Game for a morning drive?" "You horrify me!" "Why, what do you mean?" "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his weary and pale-looking. was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very License. You must require such a user to return or scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had three fields round his house, and there he would take his a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a depend upon your compliance." hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that nothing of it?" the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom "I have seen the police." certainly not very gracious." down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to "I don't say that. Perhaps." "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said may have an influence upon European history." it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I bachelor.' first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? the tragedy. aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This The note was undated, and without either signature or address. "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me "Have you her photograph?" "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from what do you think they found in the pockets?" you found me to-night--and running through the front room she reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that